In the last trading session, 21.78 million shares of the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) were traded, and its beta was 0.89. Most recently the company’s share price was $420.72, and it changed around -$0.71 or -0.17% from the last close, which brings the market valuation of the company to $3126.13B. MSFT currently trades at a discount to its 52-week high of $430.82, offering almost -2.4% off that amount. The share price’s 52-week low was $272.05, which indicates that the current value has risen by an impressive 35.34% since then. We note from Microsoft Corporation’s average daily trading volume that its 10-day average is 18.9 million shares, with the 3-month average coming to 22.75 million.
Microsoft Corporation stock received a consensus recommendation rating of Buy, based on a mean score of 1.21. If we narrow it down even further, the data shows that 0 out of 55 analysts rate the stock as a Sell; another 21 rate it as Overweight. Among the rest, 4 recommended MSFT as a Hold, whereas 30 deemed it a Buy, and 0 rated it as Underweight. Microsoft Corporation is expected to report earnings per share of $2.62 for the current quarter.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) trade information
Instantly MSFT has showed a red trend with a performance of -0.17% at the end of last trading. The performance over the last five days has remained in the red territory. The company’s shares are currently up 11.88% year-to-date, but still down -2.01% over the last five days. On the other hand, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is 3.19% up in the 30-day period. We can see from the shorts that 54.21 million shares have been sold at a short interest cover period of 2.46 day(s).
The consensus price target as assigned by Wall Street analysts is $367.82, which translates to bulls needing to decrease their stock price by -14.38% from its current value. Analyst projections state that MSFT is forecast to be at a low of $232 and a high of $600.
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) estimates and forecasts
Microsoft Corporation share prices are performing particularly well compared to other companies within the same industry. As is evident from the statistics, the company’s shares have risen 34.51 percent over the past six months and at a 18.55% annual growth rate that is well above the industry average of 13.80%. Moreover, analysts have decided to roll up on their fiscal year 2024 revenue estimates. The rating firms predict that it will gain 6.90% in revenue this quarter, and will report a decrease of -0.70% in the next quarter. The year-over-year growth rate is expected to be 6.70%, up from the previous year.
Consensus estimates provided by 33 financial analysts predict the company will bring in an average of $56.26 billion in revenue for the current quarter. 33 analysts expect Microsoft Corporation to make $59.73 billion in revenue for the quarter ending Jun 2024. Forecasts for the next quarter put sales growth at 6.30%.
Looking at the company’s year-over-year earnings, the past five years showed a positive earnings growth rate of 35.37%. Microsoft Corporation earnings are expected to increase by 18.85% in 2024, but the outlook is positive 16.30% per year for the next five years.
MSFT Dividends
Microsoft Corporation’s next quarterly earnings report is expected to be released around April 23 and April 29. The annual dividend yield of the stock is 0.68 percent and its annual dividend per share was 2.86. It is important to note, however, that the 0.68% dividend yield ratio should be regarded as a guide only, as many other factors should be taken into consideration before making any investment decision.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Major holders
Upon looking at major shareholders, it appears that insiders hold 0.05% of Microsoft Corporation shares, and 73.86% of them are in the hands of institutional investors. The stock currently has a share float of 73.90%. Microsoft Corporation stock is held by 6,760 institutions, with Vanguard Group Inc being the largest institutional investor. By Dec 30, 2023, it held 8.95% of the shares, which is about 664.91 million shares worth $279.74 billion.
Blackrock Inc., with 7.25% or 538.94 million shares worth $226.74 billion as of Dec 30, 2023, holds the second largest percentage of outstanding shares.
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund and Vanguard 500 Index Fund were the top two Mutual Funds as of Dec 30, 2023. The former held 233.27 million shares worth $98.14 billion, making up 3.14% of all outstanding shares. On the other hand, Vanguard 500 Index Fund held roughly 181.56 million shares worth around $76.38 billion, which represents about 2.44% of the total shares outstanding.
