OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,750 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.7% of OLD Second National Bank of Aurora's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora's holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock worth $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 234.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,822,280 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,619,211,000 after buying an additional 12,493,786 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased 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 period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 64.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after buying an additional 9,493,778 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Argus cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $564.27.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $497.75 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $464.80 and a 200 day moving average of $422.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. 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 yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was 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 $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure and cloud AI remain the main catalyst: Coverage highlights Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue milestone and 43% year-over-year growth, with agentic AI increasing demand for cloud compute. Microsoft’s Azure payment-security service also gives financial institutions a way to manage payment infrastructure in the cloud, although pricing and customer commitments were not disclosed. Microsoft Jumps as Azure Turns Payment Vaults Into a Service
• Positive Sentiment: Copilot’s enterprise reach is expanding: Causaly’s scientific research platform is now available within Microsoft Copilot and Teams, adding a specialized life-sciences workflow to Microsoft’s AI ecosystem. Microsoft Ventures is also backing ManticAI, a British startup developing AI systems for predicting global events. Causaly is Now Available in Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Cash returns and analyst support help sentiment: Microsoft’s 8% dividend increase to $0.98 per quarter reinforces confidence in cash generation despite heavy AI investment. Citizens JMP also reiterated a “Market Outperform” rating, supporting the bullish view. Citizens JMP Reiterates Market Outperform Rating
• Neutral Sentiment: AI strategy remains a valuation debate: Microsoft is promoting an internal AI-transformation playbook and continues to position agentic AI as a major growth opportunity. Investors must weigh that opportunity against rising data-center spending, execution risks and higher interest-rate sensitivity.
• Negative Sentiment: Copyright litigation risk has intensified: Newly unsealed court documents reportedly show Microsoft and OpenAI executives describing AI products as substitutes for journalism, while one Microsoft executive characterized AI scraping as “the largest theft of labor in human history.” News organizations argue the statements weaken the companies’ fair-use defense in the New York Times copyright case, potentially increasing legal costs, damages and regulatory scrutiny. OpenAI and Microsoft executives quotes on AI training

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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