Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Expected to Post FY2024 Earnings of $11.79 Per Share

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities researchers at William Blair increased their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Microsoft in a research report issued on Friday, April 26th. William Blair analyst J. Ader now expects that the software giant will post earnings per share of $11.79 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $11.58. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $11.71 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.94 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.23 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $15.09 EPS.

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

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Macquarie upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 18.4% during the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 4,555 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Tenon Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at about $1,522,000. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the first quarter. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,222 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 20.4% during the first quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 21,509 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,049,000 after buying an additional 3,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fonville Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% during the first quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,141 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,004,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.