William Blair Increases Earnings Estimates for Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – William Blair lifted their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Microsoft in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, October 30th. William Blair analyst J. Ader now forecasts that the software giant will post earnings of $16.48 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $15.35. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Microsoft’s FY2027 earnings at $19.47 EPS.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Arete Research raised their price objective on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Melius Research raised their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $634.67.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.03 on Monday. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $514.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $489.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Newton One Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.