Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Pictet North America Advisors SA's 4th Largest Position

Pictet North America Advisors SA cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,592 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,107 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.7% of Pictet North America Advisors SA's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Pictet North America Advisors SA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st 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 during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position 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 worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during 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 buying an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $470.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $3.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $367.78. The stock had a trading volume of 20,940,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,246,383. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $388.25 and a 200 day moving average of $412.73. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

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.