NFJ Investment Group LLC Purchases New Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• NFJ Investment Group acquired 213,856 Microsoft shares worth approximately $79.8 million, making Microsoft its eighth-largest holding and representing 2.7% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft’s AI expansion remains a major growth driver, including its Maia 300 custom processor and aggressive data-center investment to meet strong Azure and AI demand. However, investors are monitoring whether heavy infrastructure spending will pressure free cash flow.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive, with 42 analysts rating Microsoft a Buy and a consensus price target of $581.80. The company also exceeded its latest earnings and revenue estimates and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.

NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 213,856 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $79,773,000. Microsoft accounts for 2.7% of NFJ Investment Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 234.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,822,280 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,619,211,000 after acquiring an additional 12,493,786 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in Microsoft by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after acquiring an additional 9,814,598 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 38,442.1% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,810,388 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,521,001,000 after purchasing an additional 6,792,718 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 strengthens Microsoft’s AI strategy. Microsoft unveiled its third-generation Maia 300 custom AI processor, which it says can deliver approximately 40% more AI-generated tokens per megawatt or dollar than leading GPU-based systems. The company plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning in 2027, potentially lowering inference costs, improving Azure margins and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD. Microsoft Reveals Next-Gen Maia 300 Custom AI Chip For Widespread Deployment
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand remains exceptionally strong. Microsoft reportedly signed more than $130 billion in data-center leases during the quarter, signaling aggressive capacity expansion to meet demand for Azure and AI services. Management has also indicated that demand continues to exceed available capacity, while its commercial backlog has reached a record level. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is supportive ahead of earnings. Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects greater differentiation in software results. Microsoft is scheduled to report fiscal first-quarter 2027 results on October 28, with consensus estimates of approximately $4.72 in earnings per share and $90.4 billion in revenue. Microsoft price target raised to $600 from $512 at Barclays
• Positive Sentiment: New AI products broaden Microsoft’s growth opportunities. The Decision-1 model is described as faster and cheaper to operate than competing systems, while new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices add AI features, 5G connectivity and improved battery efficiency.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are weighing AI growth against spending. The Maia rollout could improve long-term economics, but Microsoft is committing substantial capital to data centers and chips. Analysts are monitoring whether shrinking free cash flow and high infrastructure costs offset Azure and Copilot growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and execution risks remain. Microsoft is conducting another round of layoffs in Israel, its research chief Peter Lee is leaving for Mercedes’ Formula 1 team, and Norway fined subsidiary Xandr €8.6 million over Grindr data sharing. Nadella and President Brad Smith are also calling for stronger AI safeguards, highlighting potential compliance costs and liability risks.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $581.80.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $543.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.26, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $503.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $437.50. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft's productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

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