North Star Asset Management Inc. Purchases 159,018 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

North Star Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 159,018 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $59,317,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.3% of North Star Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 37.4% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $60,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. 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 research note on Tuesday, September 1st. William Blair started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded Microsoft from an “overweight” rating to a “negative” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $592.15.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI diagnostic system reportedly diagnosed complex medical cases more than twice as often as generalist physicians in a simulation published in Science. The result supports the company’s ambitions in healthcare and “medical superintelligence.” Microsoft AI medical diagnostic study
• Positive Sentiment: Reports highlighted strong underlying cloud momentum: Azure annual revenue has surpassed $100 billion, cloud-services growth reached 43%, and Microsoft’s commercial backlog rose to approximately $678 billion. These trends could support the investment case if the company demonstrates continued acceleration in its upcoming earnings report. Microsoft cloud demand and backlog
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft is reorganizing around AI agents, broader model choice and lower-cost computing. The strategy could expand Copilot and Azure adoption across business workflows. Microsoft AI agent strategy
• Positive Sentiment: A strategic collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim will pursue AI-backed clinical development and digital patient twins, providing another potential application for Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms. Microsoft and Boehringer Ingelheim partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on next week’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report. Analysts expect double-digit earnings growth, but the market increasingly wants evidence that Azure growth can keep pace with rivals and justify Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure investments. Microsoft earnings preview
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s large AI capital expenditures remain a key valuation risk. While spending may create a long-term competitive moat, investors are concerned that data-center and infrastructure costs could pressure near-term returns, especially amid higher interest rates and market volatility. Microsoft AI spending and investment risk
• Negative Sentiment: Xbox announced pricing for cloud streaming of games users already own, prompting concerns about consumer reaction and pressure on Microsoft’s gaming business. Xbox cloud gaming pricing
• Negative Sentiment: Former CEO Bill Gates warned that AI could bring roughly two decades of disruption, reinforcing investor concerns about an AI investment bubble and the potential for expensive projects to produce uncertain returns. Bill Gates AI disruption comments

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $521.08 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $507.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $445.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.01, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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.