Zacks Research Forecasts Stronger Earnings for Microsoft

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research upped their FY2025 earnings estimates for Microsoft in a research report issued on Wednesday, February 19th. Zacks Research analyst V. Sawalka now forecasts that the software giant will post earnings of $13.03 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $12.83. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.07 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q1 2026 earnings at $3.51 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.63 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $4.00 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $17.08 EPS.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on MSFT. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $408.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $425.20 and a 200 day moving average of $422.69. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. tru Independence LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. tru Independence LLC now owns 11,253 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,030,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bowie Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC now owns 255,940 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $114,392,000 after purchasing an additional 53,758 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.