Microsoft FY2025 EPS Forecast Increased by Zacks Research

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research boosted their FY2025 earnings estimates for shares of Microsoft in a research report issued on Wednesday, February 19th. Zacks Research analyst V. Sawalka now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings of $13.03 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $12.83. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.08 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the company posted $2.93 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

Microsoft stock opened at $408.25 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $425.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after buying an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,931,278.28. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.