Wedbush Issues Pessimistic Outlook for Microsoft Earnings

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Investment analysts at Wedbush lowered their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for shares of Microsoft in a research note issued on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings per share of $3.54 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $3.59. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $12.89 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2026 earnings at $4.13 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on MSFT. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $415.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $432.56 and a 200-day moving average of $424.88.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.38% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.