Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s 7th Largest Position

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 871,535 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 19,055 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.4% of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $325,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth 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. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 30.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after buying an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,852,884,000 after buying an additional 2,784,809 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,715,379,000 after buying an additional 1,599,412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore set a $528.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $567.07.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $501.61 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day moving average is $469.18 and its 200 day moving average is $423.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 20.27%.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher Azure prices could support growth and margins. BNP Paribas said Microsoft may gain another growth lever as higher Azure prices are introduced to renewing customers, assigning a $549 price target. Microsoft’s Azure Has Another Growth Lever Waiting in the Wings, Analyst Says
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their outlooks on AI demand. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its Microsoft price target from $522 to $608 and maintained an overweight rating, citing opportunities in AI and cybersecurity. Erste Group also raised its earnings estimates. Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Microsoft Price Target to $608
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand remains substantial. Microsoft and Anthropic reportedly represent $87.7 billion of the $103 billion contract backlog at AI infrastructure provider Nscale, highlighting the scale of enterprise AI spending and potential Azure demand. Microsoft and Anthropic dominate Nscale’s contract backlog
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder-return and valuation support added to the bullish case. Bill Ackman described Microsoft as a core holding after building a roughly $2.4 billion position, while Microsoft’s dividend increase and strong software franchise were cited as additional attractions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is adding a fourth cloud region in Hyderabad, improving geographic resilience, although the company provided no site-level capacity or investment details. Satya Nadella’s expected attendance at a Trump-Xi state dinner could provide diplomatic visibility but has limited direct financial impact.
• Negative Sentiment: Copyright and AI-regulation concerns remain overhangs. Publisher testimony in ongoing copyright disputes has intensified questions about whether AI products substitute for original content. Microsoft executives have also warned that divergent AI rules could affect industry economics. Microsoft Slips as AI Testimony Sharpens Copyright Risk
• Negative Sentiment: New gaming-advertising initiatives generated investor skepticism. A patent covering contextual in-game advertisements raised concerns about user experience and monetization strategy. Microsoft Stock Slips on Xbox Patent for Ads in Video Games
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are weighing elevated AI capital spending, cloud-security concerns following the Hugging Face incident and the possibility that expectations are already priced in after Microsoft’s powerful summer advance. Redburn’s lower $440 target underscores the disagreement over valuation.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm'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 value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

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