Apple remained the cash king in 2014, with $178 billion in cash, or 10.2% of all the cash held by U.S. corporates at year-end, Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday.

Microsoft MSFT, -1.24% took second place, followed by Google GOOG, -2.37% , Pfizer PFE, -0.51% and Cisco CIS, -1.32% , which collectively held $439 billion in cash, according to a new study by Moody’s. Overall, U.S. non-financial companies held $1.73 trillion in cash, 4% higher than the previous year.

To put it in perspective: “Apple’s $178 billion is greater than the aggregate cash of every industry sector excluding technology and health care/pharmaceuticals,” the study found.

Apple’s AAPL, -3.17% cash balance has grown by $138 billion since 2009, and the tech giant has held the title of top cash holder since 2011, according to Moody’s.

The study looked at U.S. non-financial companies rated by Moody’s, as well as the unrated Facebook FB, -0.89% , Priceline US:PCLN and SanDisk US:SNDK, which have high levels of liquidity, for a total of 1,137 companies. The companies’ finance subsidiaries were left out of the study when possible.

Company Total Cash $U.S. Billions Report Date Apple $178.0 Dec. 27, 2014 Microsoft $90.2 Dec. 31, 2014 Google $64.4 Dec. 31, 2014 Pfizer $53.6 Dec. 31, 2014 Cisco Systems $53.0 Jan. 24, 2015 Oracle $44.7 Nov. 30, 2014 Johnson & Johnson $33.1 Dec. 28, 2014 QUALCOMM $31.6 Dec. 28, 2014 Medtronic $31.1 Jan. 23, 2015 Merck & Co. $29.2 Dec. 31, 2014 Source: Moody’s

The technology sector held the most cash, at $690 billion, while health care/pharmaceuticals, consumer products and energy also ranked highly.

The companies also held a significant amount of cash overseas, estimated at $1.1 trillion at year-end, up from $950 billion the previous year.

Companies are keeping cash there to avoid the taxes associated with bringing it back to the U.S., and possibly also because of the stronger U.S. dollar, said Richard Lane, a senior vice president at Moody’s and lead author of the report.

“We expect that overseas cash balances will continue to grow unless tax laws are changed to encourage companies to repatriate money,” he said.

At the same time, capital spending, dividends, at $394 billion, and net share buybacks, at $289 billion, were at record highs.

Lane said he expects cash holdings to increase in the low single digits, largely driven by offshore cash.

“We expect that there’s going to be a grinding higher of cash in 2015,” Lane said.