Wall Street brokerages expect Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) to announce earnings per share (EPS) of $2.29 for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Ten analysts have issued estimates for Microsoft’s earnings, with estimates ranging from $2.26 to $2.33. Microsoft reported earnings of $2.03 per share during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year-over-year growth rate of 12.8%. The business is expected to report its next earnings results on Tuesday, January 25th.
According to Zacks, analysts expect that Microsoft will report full year earnings of $9.20 per share for the current fiscal year, with EPS estimates ranging from $8.93 to $9.52. For the next financial year, analysts forecast that the firm will post earnings of $10.17 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $9.10 to $10.87. Zacks Investment Research’s earnings per share calculations are a mean average based on a survey of research firms that cover Microsoft.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 25th. The software giant reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $45.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 38.51% and a return on equity of 45.80%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.82 EPS.
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Microsoft from $342.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 25th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $331.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $347.85.
In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.60, for a total value of $18,073,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 1,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.90, for a total transaction of $552,585.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 530,699 shares of company stock worth $181,312,457. Corporate insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.
A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 294,824,958 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $79,868,081,000 after purchasing an additional 2,249,303 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 192,408,922 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $52,123,577,000 after buying an additional 13,584,306 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 126,079,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,451,147,000 after buying an additional 2,757,667 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 92,898,047 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,166,309,000 after buying an additional 2,669,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Microsoft by 4.3% during the second quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 68,123,020 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,454,527,000 after buying an additional 2,783,534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.05% of the company’s stock.
NASDAQ MSFT opened at $342.54 on Friday. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $209.11 and a 12 month high of $349.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $322.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $295.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.12.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 17th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 16th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.74%.
Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, September 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 2.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Microsoft Company Profile
Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes; Intelligent Cloud; and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment comprises products and services in the portfolio of productivity, communication, and information services of the company spanning a variety of devices and platform.