Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $2.61 Billion Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P decreased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,196,706 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 168,522 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 282.2% of Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,611,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $120,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents 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 this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 132,743 shares of company stock worth $58,835,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $461.97 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $410.44 and its 200-day moving average is $415.29. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.20, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Company 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.