Microsoft FY2026 EPS Estimate Boosted by Cantor Fitzgerald

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald has raised their earnings estimates for Microsoft's FY2026 EPS to $15.59, up from a previous forecast of $15.19, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating and a target price of $639.00.
• Several brokerages have also increased their price targets for Microsoft, with BMO Capital Markets raising theirs to $650.00 and TD Cowen to $640.00, reflecting strong market confidence.
• Microsoft reported a quarterly EPS of $3.65, exceeding estimates and posting an 18.1% increase in revenue year-over-year, with a net profit margin of 36.15%.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald raised their FY2026 EPS estimates for shares of Microsoft in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst T. Blakey now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings of $15.59 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $15.19. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a "Overweight" rating and a $639.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft's current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $11.70 on Friday, reaching $535.81. The stock had a trading volume of 15,104,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,385,492. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $489.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $435.01. 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 has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.