Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $6.58 Billion Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,599,352 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 51,706 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.6% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.21% of Microsoft worth $6,575,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position 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 buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after acquiring an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

MSFT stock opened at $367.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $388.25 and its 200 day moving average is $412.73. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 target price (down from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $499.97.

Microsoft Company 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.