FY2024 EPS Estimates for Microsoft Co. Increased by William Blair (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Analysts at William Blair lifted their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Microsoft in a report released on Friday, April 26th. William Blair analyst J. Ader now forecasts 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 issued its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price target (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $389.33 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $389.44. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $303.40 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.