Microsoft FY2025 EPS Estimate Increased by Zacks Research

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) - Stock analysts at Zacks Research upped their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of Microsoft in a research note issued on Wednesday, February 19th. Zacks Research analyst V. Sawalka now expects that the software giant will earn $13.03 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $12.83. The consensus estimate for Microsoft's current full-year earnings is $13.07 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Microsoft's Q1 2026 earnings at $3.51 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.63 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $4.00 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $17.08 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $7.88 on Friday, hitting $408.25. 27,440,364 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,515,041. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $425.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $422.69. The company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after buying an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.