Wedbush Forecasts Microsoft’s Q3 Earnings (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Analysts at Wedbush dropped their Q3 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Microsoft in a research report issued on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now forecasts that the software giant will earn $3.22 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $3.34. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $13.03 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2025 earnings at $3.44 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $13.19 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $3.73 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.70 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $15.09 EPS.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $412.37 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $432.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $424.21. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP grew its position in Microsoft by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 84,346 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $37,698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.8% in the second quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 968,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $421,899,000 after buying an additional 26,024 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.