Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. Has $4.49 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,969 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 581 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.3% of Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of MSFT opened at $520.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.17, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $500.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $439.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock worth $21,493,447. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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