Park National Corp OH Raises Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Park National Corp OH grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 257,453 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,910 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.7% of Park National Corp OH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $96,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The business’s fifty day moving average is $444.52 and its 200 day moving average is $415.80. 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 $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Argus decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27.

About Microsoft

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).