Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,288,109 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 27,329 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.8% of Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $667,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Blue Square Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC now owns 11,251 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,827,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Applied Capital LLC FL boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 12,604 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,528,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 6,602 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,420,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Forbes Financial Planning Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Forbes Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,960 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,015,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Balanced Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,235 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $660.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $392.00 price target (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $596.95.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and notes highlighting Microsoft’s relatively durable free cash flow versus other hyperscalers are soothing investors worried about AI capex. Why Microsoft’s Cash Flow Sets It Apart from Other Hyperscalers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s large, funded partner programs (notably the multibillion‑dollar IREN deal) are progressing — IREN secured financing and management says Microsoft prepayments/backing reduce execution risk for deploying AI capacity. That validates Microsoft’s ability to source external infrastructure without bearing all capex. IREN Earnings Were Ugly—Is a Beautiful Future Already Funded?
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional flows show some buyers stepping in (reported stake increases by managers), suggesting bargain hunting after the pullback. Manning & Napier Advisors boosts Microsoft stake
• Positive Sentiment: Government partnerships (UK deepfake detection) reinforce Microsoft’s regulatory/trust positioning for AI tools — a reputational plus that can support enterprise adoption. Britain to work with Microsoft to build deepfake detection system
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader hyperscaler capex is surging (reports of ~$700B combined spending), a structural trend that supports long‑term AI revenue but puts near‑term pressure on free cash flow across the group. Tech AI spending may approach $700 billion this year, but the blow to cash raises red flags
• Neutral Sentiment: Infrastructure market evolution (bitcoin miners pivoting to lease power to AI customers) creates more supplier options for Microsoft to scale capacity without owning all sites — strategic but execution‑dependent. The Great Pivot: Bitcoin Miners Are Becoming AI’s Landlords
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel’s rare downgrade (Hold) and analyst concern about Google/Anthropic competition for Azure weighed on sentiment earlier this week and triggered part of the sell‑off. Microsoft Stock Gets a Rare Downgrade. AI Competition Is Heating Up for Azure.
• Negative Sentiment: Specific execution worries — slower Copilot adoption and signs of softer Azure acceleration in the quarter — remain key risk points investors are watching; these were central to the post‑earnings sell‑off. Microsoft (MSFT) Stock: Should You Buy After 22% Plunge?
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/market psychology: an AI‑led rotation has erased large amounts of Big Tech market value, amplifying volatility for Microsoft even when fundamentals look mixed. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off

Microsoft Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $401.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $468.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $496.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

Microsoft 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).