Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 84,978 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,916,877 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 84,978 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 5.4% of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned 0.05% of Microsoft worth $1,650,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $511.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

Microsoft stock opened at $470.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.92, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $420.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $417.46. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $473.43.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders 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 0.71%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

About Microsoft

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.