Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.13 EPS

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft updated its Q4 2024 guidance to EPS.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $9.51 on Friday, hitting $408.55. 17,904,719 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,969,301. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $295.25 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $414.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $387.17.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $441.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.