What is William Blair’s Forecast for Microsoft Q2 Earnings?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – William Blair lifted their Q2 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Microsoft in a report issued on Thursday, October 30th. William Blair analyst J. Ader now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings per share of $3.95 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $3.74. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q3 2026 earnings at $4.03 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $4.37 EPS.

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

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Melius Research lifted their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.67.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5%

MSFT opened at $517.81 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $513.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $487.54. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.83, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

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.