Cantor Fitzgerald Increases Earnings Estimates for Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Microsoft in a report issued on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst T. Blakey now expects that the software giant will earn $15.89 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $15.59. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Microsoft from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $630.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.67.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.81 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $513.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $487.54. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.83, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.