Wedbush Has Negative Outlook of Microsoft FY2025 Earnings

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush reduced their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Microsoft in a report issued on Thursday, April 10th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now expects that the software giant will post earnings per share of $12.89 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $13.19. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2025 earnings at $3.15 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $3.44 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.58 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $3.80 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $14.40 EPS.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MSFT. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $502.83.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

Microsoft stock opened at $385.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $390.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $413.81.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Campbell Wealth Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,314,000. Finally, Evernest Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 389.2% during the third quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,137,000 after acquiring an additional 42,778 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

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.