15,156,859 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Bought by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased 15.16 million Microsoft shares worth approximately $5.65 billion, making Microsoft its third-largest holding and representing about 0.20% of the company.
• Institutional investors own 71.13% of Microsoft, while analysts remain broadly bullish: 43 rate the stock a Buy, with an average price target of $590.30 and an overall “Moderate Buy” rating.
• Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth prospects remain central to the investment case, but investors are watching whether heavy AI capital spending translates into revenue and free cash flow, particularly amid infrastructure constraints and competition in custom AI chips.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 15,156,859 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $5,653,812,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.1% of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.20% of Microsoft as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,306,443,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,000,706,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,426,862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Microsoft by 64.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after purchasing an additional 9,493,778 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft received a bullish signal ahead of its Oct. 28 earnings report after Bernstein raised its price target to $662 and maintained an “Outperform” rating. Investors are watching Azure growth, commercial remaining performance obligations, and whether Microsoft’s more than $115 billion in recent capital spending is translating into AI revenue. Microsoft Given New Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein
• Positive Sentiment: The company unveiled its Maia 300 AI accelerator and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning next year. The chip could reduce Microsoft’s reliance on Nvidia and lower inference costs, supporting the long-term economics of its AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft's New AI Chip Could Change the Economics of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced security controls for enterprise AI agents and emphasized that frontier models can pose insider-threat-like risks. The initiative could strengthen demand for Microsoft’s security products as businesses adopt agentic AI. Microsoft Introduces Security Features for AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Microsoft as a broad way to monetize AI through Azure, Copilot, software subscriptions, and security. Expectations call for Azure growth of roughly 45%, though capacity constraints could limit near-term upside. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer from Nscale’s planned U.K. AI data center, reportedly because of electricity-grid and power-supply delays. The decision highlights infrastructure constraints but may also reflect disciplined capital allocation; third-party operators could benefit if hyperscalers build less capacity themselves. Microsoft Pulls Out of U.K. Data Center Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s aggressive AI capital expenditures could pressure free cash flow and margins if Azure monetization does not accelerate. One analyst also said Maia remains well behind Nvidia and Google’s custom chips, limiting its near-term competitive impact. Microsoft AI Bull Case and Valuation Risks

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. William Blair started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Evercore raised Microsoft from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $590.30.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.8%

MSFT opened at $533.52 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $506.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $442.31.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ: MSFT is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company's principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.

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