Cantor Fitzgerald Increases Earnings Estimates for Microsoft

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Microsoft in a report issued on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst T. Blakey now anticipates that the software giant will post earnings per share of $13.36 for the year, up from their prior estimate of $13.19. Cantor Fitzgerald has a “Overweight” rating and a $512.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.08 per share.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $435.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $384.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.07. Microsoft has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Sequent Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,380,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.