6,041,152 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Bought by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec

Key Points

• Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec acquired 6.04 million Microsoft shares worth approximately $2.25 billion, making Microsoft its fourth-largest holding and representing about 3.2% of its portfolio.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with 43 Buy, four Hold and two Sell ratings; Microsoft has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $590.30.
• Microsoft’s AI expansion continues to drive investor interest, but high capital spending, infrastructure constraints and uncertainty over Azure monetization remain key risks. The company also reported quarterly earnings above expectations and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,041,152 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $2,253,471,000. Microsoft comprises 3.2% of Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec owned about 0.08% of Microsoft as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.7% during the second quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the software giant's stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Planning LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 3,733 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,382,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,052,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Wolfe Research lowered Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $590.30.

Microsoft News Roundup

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.8%

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft 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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