Farmers National Bank Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Farmers National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,678 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,539 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.2% of Farmers National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Farmers National Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. BLVD Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 1,276 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,371,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of MSFT opened at $381.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $418.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $472.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI tie-up is driving new customer wins and adoption of Microsoft AI products, supporting recurring revenue growth and Copilot monetization. How Microsoft’s (MSFT) OpenAI Partnership Is Bringing in a New Wave of Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts point to an AI-fueled Azure surge and a large enterprise backlog (reported as a material competitive edge vs. peers like Adobe), supporting medium-term revenue upside. Microsoft vs. Adobe: Which Software Giant Has Better Upside Potential?
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partner activity (e.g., Accenture collaborations and ecosystem integrations) reinforces Microsoft’s position in enterprise security and AI services, which can deepen customer stickiness and drive incremental services revenue. Accenture Expands AI-Driven Cybersecurity Capabilities with Microsoft Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Traders and retail investors are seeing increased options activity and yield strategies (but these are tactical, not fundamental). Some traders propose structured trades (butterfly, income ETFs) to play the pullback. Transform Microsoft Stock Weakness Into A $1,700 Payoff With A Butterfly Trade
• Neutral Sentiment: Large-cap active ETFs continue to hold Microsoft as a core position, which can stabilize flows even during sell-offs (institutional ETF flows are a background influence on demand).
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI exclusivity appears at risk as OpenAI talks with Amazon, and reports say Microsoft is considering legal action — a potential breakdown of the partnership would materially weaken MSFT’s AI moat and Azure demand assumptions. Microsoft Weighs Legal Fight As OpenAI Amazon Talks Test Azure Edge
• Negative Sentiment: Policy/contract changes in local government dealings (NDAs and procurement) have been cited as a trigger for some municipal and public-sector deals to slow, which analysts say pressured the stock in intraday trading. No More NDAs: Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Slumps After Change in Local Government Dealings
• Negative Sentiment: Security incidents continue to create headlines: a U.S. agency urged firms to harden a Microsoft endpoint tool after the Stryker attack, and reports of SharePoint being used as an attack vector raise enterprise risk and potential remediation costs. These keep risk-premiums elevated for MSFT. US agency asks companies to secure Microsoft tool after Stryker cyberattack
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about rising infrastructure and AI compute costs that have pressured margins despite solid top-line beats; commentary that the stock has been “slammed” this year reflects worry about near-term margin compression and valuation re-rating. Microsoft Stock Has Been Absolutely Slammed This Year. Is It Finally Time to Buy?

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.87.

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).