Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) to Post Q4 2024 Earnings of $2.93 Per Share, DA Davidson Forecasts

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities researchers at DA Davidson issued their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Microsoft in a report issued on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson analyst G. Luria anticipates that the software giant will post earnings per share of $2.93 for the quarter. DA Davidson has a “Buy” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $11.71 per share.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $406.32 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $414.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $388.51. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $295.25 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company 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.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.