Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Parkside Financial Bank & Trust

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,355 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,797 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.7% of Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 90,507 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $33,761,000 after acquiring an additional 19,091 shares during the period. MLG Wealth Management DBA Pine Grove Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. MLG Wealth Management DBA Pine Grove Financial Group now owns 6,275 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,340,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Range Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 55.3% in the 2nd quarter. Range Advisory LLC now owns 23,157 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,638,000 after purchasing an additional 8,245 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 54,067 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,168,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.5% in the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 30,974 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,554,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. CLSA reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Argus dropped their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $570.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 145,504 shares of company stock valued at $73,016,924 over the last 90 days. 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: Azure and AI demand remain the key bullish catalysts. Recent coverage highlights Azure revenue growth of 48%, above Microsoft’s 44%–45% forecast, with demand reportedly exceeding available capacity. Strong cloud growth, expanding Copilot adoption, and a reported $677 billion contract backlog support the view that Microsoft can monetize its AI investments. Microsoft Delivers Strong Azure Growth as AI Demand Exceeds Supply
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and long-term investors continue to favor Microsoft’s scale and financial quality. Commentary points to Microsoft’s high-margin Azure platform, OpenAI partnership, prudent infrastructure expansion, and durable competitive position. Bill Ackman and other investors continue to view MSFT as a long-term compounder, while Microsoft’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations with revenue up 18.8% year over year to $92.28 billion and EPS of $4.89. Microsoft’s Prudent Approach to the AI Infrastructure Buildout
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding enterprise AI relationships. Estée Lauder selected Microsoft’s cloud, data, and AI tools to unify data and support personalized customer experiences. The deal reinforces Azure’s enterprise relevance, although its financial contribution to Microsoft was not disclosed. Estée Lauder Partners With Microsoft on AI and Data Tools
• Negative Sentiment: AI financing and cash-flow concerns are weighing on mega-cap technology stocks. Microsoft’s roughly $25 billion bond offering and heavy data-center spending have prompted debate about leverage and returns on AI infrastructure. Recent coverage notes that free cash flow fell to about $18.6 billion as capital expenditures increased, making investors more sensitive to execution and funding risks. AI Bond Funding Might Change the Case for Investing in Microsoft
• Negative Sentiment: Market-wide technology weakness amplified the pressure. The Nasdaq declined as investors reassessed expensive AI-linked stocks, while Oracle’s $10 billion debt sale revived concerns that aggressive AI buildouts may require substantial borrowing. Microsoft’s strong balance sheet and low debt-to-equity ratio distinguish it from weaker peers, but the sector-wide risk-off move still affected MSFT. Oracle Declines as AI Debt Worries Return

Microsoft Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $507.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $513.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $438.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $551.15. The company has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.47, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 41.17%. The company’s revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.13 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given 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 20.46%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.