Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) - Equities researchers at William Blair cut their Q1 2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Microsoft in a report released on Thursday, July 31st. William Blair analyst J. Ader now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings of $3.61 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $3.63. The consensus estimate for Microsoft's current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Microsoft's Q2 2026 earnings at $3.74 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.83 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $4.16 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $18.35 EPS.
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 the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year.
Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.86.
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Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%
Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $524.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $489.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $435.01.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,743 shares of company stock worth $24,921,913. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Trading of Microsoft
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,075,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
About Microsoft
(
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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.
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