Cantor Fitzgerald Forecasts Microsoft FY2025 Earnings

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald issued their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Microsoft in a report released on Tuesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst T. Blakey expects that the software giant will post earnings per share of $12.92 for the year. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a “Strong-Buy” rating and a $509.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $12.91 per share.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $446.71 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $430.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.55. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.86, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First National Bank Sioux Falls boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 9,640 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,309,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,455,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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.