Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) – Stock analysts at Erste Group Bank boosted their FY2027 EPS estimates for shares of Microsoft in a research report issued on Thursday, October 8th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the software giant will post earnings of $19.60 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $19.58. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $19.65 per share.
Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Mizuho decreased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Citigroup raised Microsoft from a “market outperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. CLSA reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $579.84.
Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%
NASDAQ MSFT opened at $541.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $502.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $436.28. The company has a market capitalization of $4.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Microsoft
Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 315,653,206 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $117,744,959,000 after purchasing an additional 8,944,917 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $27,338,370,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 64,375,360 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,013,297,000 after buying an additional 543,172 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $18,306,443,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its third-generation Maia 300 AI chip, scheduled for production deployment in 2027. The company expects multi-gigawatt deployments and says the system could deliver approximately 40% more AI-generated tokens per megawatt or dollar than leading GPU-based systems, potentially lowering Azure’s computing costs and improving margins. Microsoft to rely more on homegrown AI chips, reducing dependence on Nvidia
- Positive Sentiment: The Maia announcement reinforces Microsoft’s broader AI growth narrative. Management has described the initiative as its “biggest bet yet” on in-house silicon, with the potential to reduce dependence on Nvidia and AMD while supporting continued Azure and Copilot expansion. Microsoft Unveils Maia 300 AI Chip, Plans Up to One Million Next Year
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI chief said Azure will continue using chips from Nvidia, AMD and Intel alongside Maia, suggesting the custom-chip push is intended to diversify supply and improve efficiency rather than immediately eliminate external suppliers. Microsoft’s AI chief discusses Maia 300
- Neutral Sentiment: The launch pressured Nvidia and shook the semiconductor sector, highlighting that major cloud providers are increasingly developing their own AI hardware. However, Microsoft’s Maia rollout is not expected to begin at scale until 2027, leaving execution, manufacturing and performance risks.
- Negative Sentiment: Microsoft faces regulatory and workforce-related risks after its suspension from the U.S. PERM green-card program amid scrutiny of its H-1B visa practices. The issue could complicate hiring of specialized technical workers. Satya Nadella went from H-1B worker to Microsoft CEO
- Negative Sentiment: Investors remain sensitive to Microsoft’s substantial AI capital spending and elevated valuation. Analyst downgrades across some AI software stocks and concerns about AI-related market concentration could limit further upside unless Azure growth exceeds expectations.
Microsoft Company Profile
Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.
Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.
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