Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Park National Corp OH's 2nd Largest Position

Park National Corp OH trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 246,444 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 13,146 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.0% of Park National Corp OH's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Park National Corp OH's holdings in Microsoft were worth $122,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Fosun International Ltd grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Birchbrook Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,375,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $509.04 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $511.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $455.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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