During the last session, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s traded shares were 41.92 million, with the beta value of the company hitting 0.92. At the end of the trading day, the stock’s price was $325.92, reflecting an intraday gain of 3.85% or $12.07. The 52-week high for the MSFT share is $322.72, that puts it up 0.98 from that peak though still a striking 34.51% gain since the share price plummeted to a 52-week low of $213.43. The company’s market capitalization is $2424.74B, and the average intraday trading volume over the past 10 days was 26.35 million shares, and the average trade volume was 28.85 million shares over the past three months.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) received a consensus recommendation of a Buy from analysts. That translates to a mean rating of 1.90. MSFT has a Sell rating from 1 analyst(s) out of 51 analysts who have looked at this stock. 7 analyst(s) recommend to Hold the stock while 6 suggest Overweight, and 37 recommend a Buy rating for it. 0 analyst(s) has rated the stock Underweight. Company’s earnings per share (EPS) for the current quarter are expected to be $2.56.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) trade information

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) registered a 3.85% upside in the last session and has traded in the green over the past 5 sessions. The stock spiked 3.85% in intraday trading to $325.92 this Thursday, 05/25/23, hitting a weekly high. The stock’s 5-day price performance is 2.32%, and it has moved by 10.34% in 30 days. Based on these gigs, the overall price performance for the year is 25.54%. The short interest in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is 42.34 million shares and it means that shorts have 1.51 day(s) to cover.

The consensus price target of analysts on Wall Street is $332.84, which implies an increase of 2.08% to the stock’s current value. The extremes of the forecast give a target low and a target high price of $232.00 and $400.00 respectively. As a result, MSFT is trading at a discount of -22.73% off the target high and 28.82% off the low.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) estimates and forecasts

Statistics show that Microsoft Corporation has underperformed its competitors in share price, compared to the industry in which it operates. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) shares have gone up 33.01% during the last six months, with a year-to-date growth rate less than the industry average at 4.89% against 12.60. Yet analysts are ramping up their growth forecast for the fiscal year 2023. Revenue is predicted to grow 14.80% this quarter and then jump 10.60% in the quarter after that. In the rating firms’ projections, revenue will increase 6.50% compared to the previous financial year.

Revenue for the current quarter is expected to be $55.44 billion as predicted by 35 analyst(s). Meanwhile, a consensus of 29 analyst(s) estimates revenue growth to $54.85 billion by the end of Sep 2023. As per earnings report from last fiscal year’s results, sales for the corresponding quarters totaled $51.87 billion and $49.61 billion respectively. In this case, analysts expect current quarter sales to grow by 6.90% and then jump by 10.60% in the coming quarter.

An analysis of the company’s performance over the past 5 years shows that the company’s earnings grew an estimated 24.30%. While earnings are projected to return 19.80% in 2023, the next five years will return 12.54% per annum.

MSFT Dividends

Microsoft Corporation is due to release its next quarterly earnings between July 24 and July 28. However, it is important to remember that the dividend yield ratio is merely an indicator meant to only serve as guidance. Investors should also take the other fundamental and operational aspects into account before investing in the stock. The forward dividend ratio for Microsoft Corporation is 2.72, with the dividend yield indicating at 0.83 percent, continuing the trend of increasing dividends in recent years.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Major holders

Microsoft Corporation insiders own 0.05% of total outstanding shares while institutional holders control 73.77%, with the float percentage being 73.80%. Vanguard Group, Inc. (The) is the largest shareholder of the company, while 6,159 institutions own stock in it. As of Mar 30, 2023, the company held over 649.52 million shares (or 8.74% of all shares), a total value of $187.26 billion in shares.

The next largest institutional holding, with 537.57 million shares, is of Blackrock Inc.’s that is approximately 7.23% of outstanding shares. At the market price on Mar 30, 2023, these shares were valued at $154.98 billion.

Also, the Mutual Funds coming in first place with the largest holdings of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) shares are Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund and Vanguard 500 Index Fund. Data provided on Dec 30, 2022 indicates that Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund owns about 226.59 million shares. This amounts to just over 3.04 percent of the company’s overall shares, with a $54.34 billion market value. The same data shows that the other fund manager holds slightly less at 172.33 million, or about 2.32% of the stock, which is worth about $41.33 billion.