Wedbush Has Pessimistic Outlook of Microsoft Q1 Earnings

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Wedbush cut their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for Microsoft in a research note issued on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings per share of $3.54 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $3.59. Wedbush has a "Outperform" rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft's current full-year earnings is $13.03 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Microsoft's Q4 2026 earnings at $4.13 EPS.

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

MSFT has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded down $4.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $410.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,559,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,243,521. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $432.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.44. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,763,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Crew Capital Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 10,860 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,854,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 12,379 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,533,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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.