Pacific Center for Financial Services Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Pacific Center for Financial Services increased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,304 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.5% of Pacific Center for Financial Services’ holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Pacific Center for Financial Services’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after buying an additional 842,884 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,591,126,000 after buying an additional 277,881 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $415.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $435.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.62. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.