Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P trimmed its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,196,706 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 168,522 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 282.2% of Loomis Sayles & Co. L P's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.08% of Microsoft worth $2,611,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,937,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 593,905 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $250,331,000 after buying an additional 126,611 shares in the last quarter. BIT Capital GmbH lifted its position in Microsoft by 823.3% during the fourth quarter. BIT Capital GmbH now owns 19,731 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,317,000 after buying an additional 17,594 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,436,347 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,026,920,000 after buying an additional 6,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,370,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded up $0.90 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $463.87. 14,135,414 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,449,429. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $411.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $415.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 firm 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 firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.