Microsoft (MSFT) Expected to Announce Earnings on Wednesday

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will likely be announcing its Q4 2026 results after the market closes on Wednesday, July 29th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $4.21 per share and revenue of $87.6196 billion for the quarter. Interested persons may review the information on the company’s upcoming Q4 2026 earning summary page for the latest details on the call scheduled for Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 5:30 PM ET.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. On average, analysts expect Microsoft to post $17 EPS for the current fiscal year and $19 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $389.10 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $397.52 and a 200 day moving average of $406.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price target for the company. China Renaissance dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $554.73.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Project Perception, an agentic security platform designed to detect and respond to AI-powered cyberattacks in real time. The company also introduced its first in-house cybersecurity model, MAI-Cyber-1-Flash. The products could strengthen Microsoft’s position in the growing enterprise cybersecurity market and create additional demand for Azure and security software. Microsoft launches its first cybersecurity model and a new agentic cybersecurity system
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to report healthy Azure and broader cloud demand, with AI demand reportedly exceeding available capacity. UBS maintained a Buy rating, while Guggenheim reaffirmed its Buy rating with a $586 price target. Consensus expectations for Wednesday call for approximately $87.42 billion in revenue and $4.21 in earnings per share. Microsoft faces AI capex scrutiny as it prepares to report Q4 results
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded partnership with Mistral and its work on custom chips support the company’s strategy of making Azure a leading platform for enterprise AI workloads. Investors view continued AI adoption and cloud monetization as potential catalysts for the earnings report.
• Neutral Sentiment: The immediate focus is Microsoft’s planned roughly $190 billion in annual capital spending, a reported 61% increase. The investment could support long-term Azure growth, but the market wants evidence that cloud revenue and AI demand are growing fast enough to justify the cost. Options markets imply a potentially large post-earnings move of about 7.24%. Microsoft Plans $190 Billion of Capital Spending This Year
• Negative Sentiment: Investors have recently been less willing to reward strong technology earnings because of concerns about AI spending returns, heavy debt issuance across the AI ecosystem, and margin pressure. Microsoft’s elevated spending could therefore weigh on the stock if Azure growth or forward guidance disappoints.
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms publicized securities class-action lawsuits alleging investor harm and misleading disclosures related to Microsoft’s Copilot positioning, data silos, and interoperability. The claims are an overhang, although their near-term financial impact is uncertain. Microsoft investor class-action announcement

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,837 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $888,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,104,000. Blue Sparrow LLC DE purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $411,887,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,975,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $953,711,000 after acquiring an additional 184,645 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Chip Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 100,803 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $48,750,000 after acquiring an additional 593 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).