FY2028 EPS Estimate for Microsoft Reduced by Analyst

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Research analysts at Erste Group Bank cut their FY2028 earnings per share estimates for Microsoft in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, October 8th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings per share of $23.47 for the year, down from their previous forecast of $23.51. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $19.65 per share.

MSFT has been the subject of several other research reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. UBS Group cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $581.80.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $543.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $503.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $437.50.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.65 EPS.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sullivan Wood Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.2% in the third quarter. Sullivan Wood Capital Management LLC now owns 647 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Box Hill Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Box Hill Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,272 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,593,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC now owns 4,426 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Worthington Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Worthington Financial Partners LLC now owns 7,704 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,951,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 strengthens Microsoft’s AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft unveiled its third-generation Maia 300 AI chip and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning in 2027. The company says the chip can deliver approximately 40% more AI-generated tokens per megawatt or dollar than leading GPU-based systems, potentially lowering computing costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD. Microsoft Reveals Next-Gen Maia 300 Custom AI Chip For Widespread Deployment
• Positive Sentiment: AI and cloud demand remain major valuation catalysts. Reports highlight accelerating Azure demand, a record commercial backlog and more than $130 billion in new data-center leases, supporting expectations for continued growth in cloud and AI services. Microsoft also has several generations of proprietary AI chips, giving investors a potential long-term margin and supply-chain advantage. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism provides additional support. Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects greater differentiation in software as the next quarter progresses. The company is scheduled to report fiscal first-quarter results on October 28, with analysts looking for roughly $4.72 in earnings per share and $90.4 billion in revenue. Microsoft price target raised to $600 from $512 at Barclays

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.