Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), The Coca-Cola Co (KO), More: Donald Yacktman and Insiders Love These Stocks

The next company on our list is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) which saw recent insider purchases from two of its directors, Mason G. Morfit and Charles W. Scharf. The former acquired some 1.03 million shares of the software company in February at an average unit price of $41.11 in seven transactions, while Scharf bought 23,612 shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at $42.34. The stock is trading nearly sideways year-to-date. The $385.06 billion company is flush with cash that amounts to $95.44 billion and some analysts believe that it should use its war chest to acquire salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM). Besides Yacktman, who held about 21.53 million shares of the company’s stock valued at $875.51 million, another significant investor in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Jeffrey Ubben‘s ValueAct Capital.

Yacktman Asset Management held some 5.97 million shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) valued at $371.75 million at the end of the first quarter. The $82.75 billion oil and gas exploration and production company’s Executive Vice President, Alan J. Hirshberg acquired 9,000 shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) at a unit price of $69.95, towards the end of last year. The stock is down by about 2.65% year-to-date amid first quarter financial results that met analysts’ expectations. The low price of crude oil during the quarter was partially offset by an approximate 5% increase in production to 1.61 million boe/day. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) also lowered its operating costs to $2.1 billion during the first quarter as compared to $2.3 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. According to our database, Jean-Marie Eveillard‘s First Eagle Investment Management is the largest stockholder of the company.

Lastly, Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE:BK) also garnered some support in terms of an insider purchase, as the company’s director Edward P. Garden of Trian Partners acquired over 1.14 million shares in three separate transactions between January and March at an average unit price of $38.61. Yacktman’s stake in Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE:BK) stood at 7.55 million shares valued at $303.66 million at the end of the first quarter. In addition to Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners, which owns 28.90 million shares, First Eagle Investment Management also has a sizable stake of 27.76 million shares.

 Disclosure: None