Microsoft Co. to Post Q4 2024 Earnings of $2.93 Per Share, DA Davidson Forecasts (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Investment analysts at DA Davidson issued their Q4 2024 EPS estimates for shares of Microsoft in a note issued to investors on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson analyst G. Luria anticipates that the software giant will earn $2.93 per share for the quarter. DA Davidson has a “Buy” 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.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $389.33 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $414.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $389.44. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $303.40 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,988,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,065 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.1% during the first quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 105,478 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $44,380,000 after acquiring an additional 22,493 shares during the period. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 8.5% in the first quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 5,827 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,452,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curtis Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the first quarter. Curtis Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,326 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Corporate 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, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.