Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.13 EPS

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13, Briefing.com reports. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft updated its Q4 2024 guidance to EPS.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $414.48 and a 200 day moving average of $387.70. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $295.25 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $452.61.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.