Wedbush Has Positive Estimate for Microsoft Q1 Earnings

Key Points

• Wedbush analysts have raised Microsoft's Q1 2026 earnings estimate from $3.53 to $3.66 per share, and maintain an "Outperform" rating with a price target of $625.00.
• Microsoft recently reported Q2 earnings of $3.65 per share, surpassing estimates by $0.30, with revenues reaching $76.44 billion.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.6%, to be paid on September 11th for investors of record on August 21st.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Wedbush raised their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Microsoft in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings per share of $3.66 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $3.53. Wedbush currently has a "Outperform" rating and a $625.00 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 Q2 2026 earnings at $3.82 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.86 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $3.95 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $15.30 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $4.20 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $4.46 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $4.52 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $4.66 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $17.85 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $9.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $524.11. 28,948,527 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,331,950. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $489.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $434.88. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.