Wedbush Issues Pessimistic Estimate for Microsoft Earnings

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities research analysts at Wedbush reduced their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Microsoft in a report issued on Thursday, April 10th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now expects that the software giant will earn $12.89 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $13.19. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2025 earnings at $3.15 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $3.44 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.58 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $3.80 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $14.40 EPS.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.86.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $387.81 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.22, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $391.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $414.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 48,420 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,176,000 after acquiring an additional 6,976 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 10,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,754,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 23,426 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,794,000 after buying an additional 1,314 shares during the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its position in Microsoft by 5.8% during the first quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 25,872 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,712,000 after purchasing an additional 1,421 shares during the period. Finally, Panoramic Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 7.8% in the first quarter. Panoramic Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,137 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,076,000 after buying an additional 1,237 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Microsoft’s 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.