In the last trading session, 52.36 million Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares changed hands as the company’s beta touched 0.89. With the company’s per share price at $377.44 changed hands at $7.59 or 2.05% during last session, the market valuation stood at $2805.23B. MSFT’s last price was a premium, traded about 0.29% off its 52-week high of $376.35. The share price had its 52-week low at $219.35, which suggests the last value was 41.88% up since then. When we look at Microsoft Corporation’s average trading volume, we note the 10-day average is 27.12 million shares, with the 3-month average coming to 23.26 million.

Analysts gave the Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) stock a consensus recommendation rating of a Buy, calculated at a mean rating of 1.30. If we narrow down to specifics, the data shows that 0 out of 53 analysts rate the stock as a Sell, with a further 6 assigning it an Overweight rating. Of the remaining, 5 recommended MSFT as a Hold, 42 felt it is a Buy and 0 rated the stock as Underweight. Microsoft Corporation’s EPS for the current quarter is expected to be $2.54.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) trade information

Instantly MSFT was in green as seen at the end of in last trading. With action 2.93%, the performance over the past five days has been green. The jump to weekly highs of 378.87 on Monday, 11/20/23 added 2.05% to the stock’s daily price. The company’s shares are showing year-to-date upside of 57.38%, with the 5-day performance at 2.93% in the green. However, in the 30-day time frame, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is 15.54% up. Looking at the short shares, we see there were 39.56 million shares sold at short interest cover period of 1.61 days.

The consensus price target for the stock as assigned by Wall Street analysts is $409.17, meaning bulls need an upside of 7.75% from its current market value. According to analyst projections, MSFT’s forecast low is $350.00 with $450.00 as the target high. To hit the forecast high, the stock’s price needs a -19.22% plunge from its current level, while the stock would need to tank 7.27% for it to hit the projected low.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) estimates and forecasts

Data shows that the Microsoft Corporation share is performing relatively much not better than most of its peers within the same industry. As can be gleaned from the statistics, the company’s share value shot 17.52% over the past 6 months, a 13.46% in annual growth rate that is considerably lower than the industry average of 15.30%. Moreover, analysts have looked to higher expectations by upgrading its fiscal year 2023 revenue estimates. The rating firms predict current quarter revenue for Microsoft Corporation will rise 9.50%, while the growth in revenue is estimated to hit -0.80% for the next quarter. Year-over-year growth is forecast to reach 5.10% up from the last financial year.

Consensus estimates given by 32 financial analysts project the company’s revenue in the current quarter to hit an average of $55.98 billion. 32 analysts are of the opinion that Microsoft Corporation’s revenue for the quarter ending Mar 2024 will be $55.75 billion.

Looking at the company’s year-on-year earnings, data shows that the past 5-year has an earnings growth rate of 35.37%. The 2023 estimates are for Microsoft Corporation earnings to increase by 14.51%, but the outlook for the next 5-year period is at 15.42% per year.

MSFT Dividends

Microsoft Corporation is expected to release its next quarterly earnings report between January 22 and January 26. The 0.78% annual yield figure for the share gives it an annual dividend of 2.94. It is important to note, however, that the 0.78% dividend yield ratio should serve as a guide only, as you should also take into consideration many other aspects of a company’s operations and fundamentals before making any investment decision.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Major holders

If we look at who the major shareholders are, we find that insiders hold 0.05% of Microsoft Corporation shares while 73.21% of the shares are in the hands of institutional holders. The share float percentage for the stock currently stands at 73.25%. There are 73.21% institutions holding the Microsoft Corporation stock share, with Vanguard Group Inc the top institutional holder. As of Jun 29, 2023, the company held 8.79% of the shares, roughly 653.25 million MSFT shares worth $222.46 billion.

Blackrock Inc. holds the second largest percentage of outstanding shares, with 7.22% or 536.25 million shares worth $182.61 billion as of Jun 29, 2023.

Among Mutual Funds, the top two as of Jun 29, 2023 were Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund and Vanguard 500 Index Fund. With 231.88 million shares estimated at $78.97 billion under it, the former controlled 3.12% of total outstanding shares. On the other hand, Vanguard 500 Index Fund held about 2.38% of the shares, roughly 177.03 million shares worth around $60.29 billion.