Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. Sells 70 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. cut its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,435 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 7.4% of Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $425.40 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $384.18 and a 200-day moving average of $411.01. 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 $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.77.

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.