Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft updated its Q1 2025 guidance to EPS.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $4.37 on Wednesday, reaching $418.55. The company had a trading volume of 10,087,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,552,170. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average is $440.44 and its 200 day moving average is $421.45. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Microsoft stock. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 27.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho boosted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie boosted their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $485.39.

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.