Wedbush Weighs in on Microsoft Co.’s FY2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Investment analysts at Wedbush increased their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Microsoft in a note issued to investors on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now expects that the software giant will earn $11.74 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $11.59. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $11.71 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.89 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.17 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.31 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.32 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $13.29 EPS.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $389.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $414.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $389.44.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Smith & Howard Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Stordahl Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 14,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,537,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.