Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Analysts at Piper Jaffray Companies boosted their FY2020 EPS estimates for Microsoft in a report released on Thursday, April 25th, according to Zacks Investment Research. Piper Jaffray Companies analyst A. Zukin now expects that the software giant will post earnings of $5.07 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $4.96. Piper Jaffray Companies has a “Overweight” rating and a $140.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Jaffray Companies also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2020 earnings at $1.37 EPS, Q1 2021 earnings at $1.37 EPS, Q2 2021 earnings at $1.28 EPS, Q3 2021 earnings at $1.49 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $5.66 EPS.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The software giant reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $30.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.34% and a net margin of 28.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 EPS.
Several other equities research analysts have also commented on MSFT. Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $131.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. ValuEngine raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price (up previously from $140.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Zacks Investment Research raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Microsoft from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $135.75.
Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.77 during trading on Monday, hitting $127.67. 12,875,519 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,791,846. The firm has a market capitalization of $986.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.93. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $93.96 and a 12-month high of $131.37.
Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Quadrant Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Quadrant Capital Management LLC now owns 20,466 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,414,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,822 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $686,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 11,847 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,397,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Karpas Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Karpas Strategies LLC now owns 24,283 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,864,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barton Investment Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Barton Investment Management now owns 28,127 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,317,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 73.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
In other Microsoft news, insider Frank H. Brod sold 7,220 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.76, for a total transaction of $814,127.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 53,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,984,060.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Bradford L. Smith sold 192,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.34, for a total value of $25,064,382.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 754,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,333,970.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 238,354 shares of company stock worth $30,340,221. Corporate insiders own 1.38% of the company’s stock.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.42%.
About Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. Its company’s Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office 365 commercial products and services, such as Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, and related Client Access Licenses (CALs); Office 365 consumer services, including Skype, Outlook.com, and OneDrive; LinkedIn online professional network; and Dynamics business solutions comprising financial management, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and analytics applications for small and medium businesses, large organizations, and divisions of enterprises.