Q2 Earnings Forecast for Microsoft Issued By William Blair

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Stock analysts at William Blair lowered their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for Microsoft in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, October 31st. William Blair analyst J. Ader now expects that the software giant will post earnings per share of $3.11 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $3.23. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.02 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2025 earnings at $3.19 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $12.69 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $3.55 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $3.62 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.65 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $3.79 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $14.61 EPS.

MSFT has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $410.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $420.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.55. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.77 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.73% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 2,907 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,682 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,756,000 after acquiring an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 13,503 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,681,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 11,619 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,888,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 60.0% during the 1st quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,591 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,718,000 after acquiring an additional 5,097 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.75%.

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.