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

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities researchers at Wedbush raised their FY2024 earnings estimates for Microsoft in a research note issued on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now expects that the software giant will post earnings per share of $11.74 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $11.59. Wedbush currently 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.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $389.33 on Monday. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $303.40 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $389.44. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,232 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,988,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 3.9% during the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 107,264 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,185,000 after buying an additional 4,065 shares during the period. Vantage Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 27.1% during the first quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 105,478 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $44,380,000 after buying an additional 22,493 shares during the period. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 8.5% during the first quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 5,827 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,452,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Curtis Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the first quarter. Curtis Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,326 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

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.