Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.22 EPS

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.22, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft updated its Q2 2025 guidance to EPS.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $24.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $408.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 33,676,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,313,793. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $334.69 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $421.01 and a 200-day moving average of $424.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Microsoft stock. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 27.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.38.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.