Griffin Securities Comments on Microsoft Co.’s Q4 2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities research analysts at Griffin Securities upped their Q4 2024 EPS estimates for Microsoft in a research report issued on Friday, April 26th. Griffin Securities analyst J. Vleeschhouwer now expects that the software giant will post earnings per share of $2.90 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $2.80. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $11.71 per share. Griffin Securities also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q1 2025 earnings at $3.11 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.29 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.22 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $3.36 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $12.99 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $389.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $303.40 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $414.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $389.44. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. 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 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% in the third quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% during the third quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Stordahl Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the third quarter. Stordahl Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,742 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% during the third quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 14,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,537,000 after acquiring an additional 524 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.