Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for Microsoft Q3 Earnings

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research upped their Q3 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Microsoft in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, February 19th. Zacks Research analyst V. Sawalka now anticipates that the software giant will earn $3.19 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $3.15. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2025 earnings at $3.31 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $3.64 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $3.87 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $14.65 EPS and Q2 2027 earnings at $4.27 EPS.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $397.90 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $423.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.04, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Truefg LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Truefg LLC now owns 1,241 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $554,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% during the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,704 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,655,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,070,340. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

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.