Czech National Bank Has $977.82 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,887,869 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,091 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 6.7% of Czech National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $977,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and coverage point to improving AI economics — reports say Azure AI margins are positive and revenue is likely to beat estimates, supporting near-term earnings upside and giving investors confidence in cloud monetization. Azure AI margins article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft pledged $17.5 billion of investment in AI and cloud infrastructure in India — a large, long-term growth initiative that should expand Azure adoption and enterprise spending in a major emerging market. India investment article
• Positive Sentiment: New enterprise partnerships (Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro) and a Cognizant-led push to scale Microsoft 365/GitHub Copilot & agentic AI deployments could accelerate commercial adoption and drive higher software and Azure consumption. Partnerships article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined the U.S. “Genesis Mission” AI initiative alongside top AI firms — positioning MSFT to capture government and scientific AI spend and reinforcing strategic leadership in national AI programs. Genesis Mission article
• Positive Sentiment: Partner-channel and device news helped sentiment — LG’s reported backpedal on making Copilot mandatory drove a small positive knee-jerk move, easing concerns about forced integrations and signaling partner flexibility. LG Copilot article
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary frames MSFT as a durable AI/dividend play — pieces highlighting dividend/long-term strength keep buy-and-hold narratives alive but are unlikely to move price materially on their own. MarketBeat dividend article
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer-product updates (Office 2024 upgrade) and legacy product refreshes support steady software sales, but are lower-impact versus cloud/AI developments. Office 2024 article
• Negative Sentiment: Jim Cramer warned that Microsoft “requires mass spending” to keep Azure competitive — a direct headline that reinforces investor worries about rising capex and margin pressure as MSFT scales data centers and AI infrastructure. Cramer spending article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI/tech jitters and commentary about “ballooning” capex have pressured the stock in recent weeks; that narrative could cap multiple expansion until evidence of durable margin recovery is clear. CapEx concerns article

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $485.92 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $499.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $503.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Rothschild Redb lowered Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.03.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).