Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Stock Could Reward Investors With A -41.14% Loss

In the latest trading session, 4.24 million Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares changed hands as the company’s beta touched 0.90. With the company’s most recent per share price at $425.12 changing hands around $9.45 or 2.27% at last look, the market valuation stands at $3160.72B. MSFT’s current price is a discount, trading about -10.17% off its 52-week high of $468.35. The share price had its 52-week low at $384.81, which suggests the last value was 9.48% up since then. When we look at Microsoft Corporation’s average trading volume, we note the 10-day average is 16.84 million shares, with the 3-month average coming to 20.92 million.

Analysts gave the Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) stock a consensus recommendation rating of Buy, calculated at a mean rating of 1.26. If we narrow down to specifics, the data shows that 2 out of 40 analysts rate the stock as a Sell, with a further 0 assigning it an Overweight rating. Of the remaining, 3 recommended MSFT as a Hold, 34 felt it is a Buy and 1 rated the stock as Underweight. Microsoft Corporation’s EPS for the current quarter is expected to be 3.12.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) trade information

Instantly MSFT is in green as seen in intraday trades today. With action 0.65%, the performance over the past five days has been green. The company’s shares are showing year-to-date upside of 0.86%, with the 5-day performance at 0.65% in the green. However, in the 30-day time frame, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is -5.44% down. Looking at the short shares, we see there were 62.18 million shares sold at short interest cover period of 2.97 days.

The consensus price target for the stock as assigned by Wall Street analysts is 498.5, meaning bulls need an upside of 14.72% from its recent market value. According to analyst projections, MSFT’s forecast low is 425 with 600 as the target high. To hit the forecast high, the stock’s price needs a -41.14% plunge from its current level, while the stock would need to tank 0.03% 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 -5.43% over the past 6 months, a 9.49% in annual growth rate that is considerably lower than the industry average of 17.30%. Year-over-year growth is forecast to reach 13.66% up from the last financial year.

Consensus estimates given by 33 financial analysts project the company’s revenue in the current quarter to hit an average of 68.86B. 30 analysts are of the opinion that Microsoft Corporation’s revenue for the current quarter will be 69.91B. The company’s revenue for the corresponding quarters a year ago was 62.02B and 61.86B respectively. According to analysts, the company will likely register a growth in its current quarter sales, forecast at 11.03%. The estimates for the next quarter sales put growth at 13.02%.

Looking at the company’s year-on-year earnings, data shows that the past 5-year has an earnings growth rate of 18.45%. The 2025 estimates are for Microsoft Corporation earnings to increase by 10.86%, but the outlook for the next 5-year period is at 13.74% per year.

MSFT Dividends

Microsoft Corporation is expected to release its next quarterly earnings report in February. The 0.72% annual yield figure for the share gives it an annual dividend of 3.08. It is important to note, however, that the 0.72% 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. During the past 5 years, the average dividend yield was 0.86 per year.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Major holders

If we look at who the major shareholders are, we find that insiders hold 0.06% of Microsoft Corporation shares while 73.63% of the shares are in the hands of institutional holders. The share float percentage for the stock currently stands at 73.67%. There are 73.63% institutions holding the Microsoft Corporation stock share, with VANGUARD GROUP INC the top institutional holder. As of 2024-06-30, the company held 9.0958% of the shares, roughly 675.91 million MSFT shares worth $302.1 billion.

BLACKROCK INC. holds the second largest percentage of outstanding shares, with 7.4549% or 553.98 million shares worth $247.6 billion as of 2024-06-30.

Among Mutual Funds, the top two as of Sep 30, 2024 were Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund and Vanguard 500 Index Fund. With 235.61 shares estimated at $100.14 billion under it, the former controlled 3.17% of total outstanding shares. On the other hand, Vanguard 500 Index Fund held about 2.62% of the shares, roughly 194.67 shares worth around $82.74 billion.