Griffin Securities Research Analysts Raise Earnings Estimates for Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities researchers at Griffin Securities boosted their Q4 2024 earnings per share estimates for Microsoft in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, April 26th. Griffin Securities analyst J. Vleeschhouwer now forecasts that the software giant will earn $2.90 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $2.80. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $11.71 per share. Griffin Securities also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q1 2025 earnings at $3.11 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.29 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.22 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $3.36 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $12.99 EPS.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.32 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $295.25 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $414.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $388.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.