Erste Group Bank Raises Earnings Estimates for Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities researchers at Erste Group Bank boosted their FY2027 EPS estimates for shares of Microsoft in a note issued to investors on Thursday, August 27th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the software giant will post earnings of $19.58 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $19.54. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $19.59 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Microsoft’s FY2028 earnings at $23.38 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on MSFT. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $562.49.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $501.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $436.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $413.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Montgomery Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 21,810 shares of company stock valued at $10,110,874 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target to $600 from $500 and maintained a Buy rating. The bank cited accelerating cloud growth, improving AI efficiency and better visibility into returns on investment. Its thesis includes approximately 43% Azure growth and more than 30 million paid Copilot seats, implying substantial upside. Microsoft’s AI strategy accelerates cloud growth and efficiency: analysts
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its HUMAIN partnership in the Middle East and Africa. The companies plan to combine HUMAIN ONE with Microsoft 365 Copilot and IQ capabilities for as many as one million enterprise users, while also bringing Arabic-language AI models to Microsoft’s ecosystem. The deal supports Microsoft’s international AI distribution and enterprise monetization strategy. Microsoft extends HUMAIN tie up
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and financial media continue to view Microsoft as a leading hyperscaler, citing Azure demand, Copilot adoption, strong cash generation and a valuation that remains reasonable relative to its growth prospects. Technical coverage also places MSFT in or near a potential buy zone after its recent rally. Why Microsoft’s stock could rally another 20%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft customers can now deploy Laurel through the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another application to the company’s enterprise distribution ecosystem, though the immediate financial effect was not disclosed. Laurel Now Available in the Microsoft Marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft 365 and Outlook outages persisted into a second day. Although service appeared to be improving, prolonged disruptions could frustrate enterprise customers and raise questions about reliability. Microsoft 365 outage drags on
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on Microsoft’s approximately $116 billion in fiscal 2026 property and equipment spending. Continued AI infrastructure investment may support long-term growth but could pressure depreciation, margins and returns if demand fails to keep pace. Rising interest rates and Windows 11 update problems add further near-term risk.

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).