Microsoft - MSFT Stock Forecast, Price & News

Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, as well as related Client Access Licenses (CAL); Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions. Its Intelligent Cloud segment licenses SQL, Windows Servers, Visual Studio, System Center, and related CALs; GitHub that provides a collaboration platform and code hosting service for developers; and Azure, a cloud platform. It also offers support services and Microsoft consulting services to assist customers in developing, deploying, and managing Microsoft server and desktop solutions; and training and certification on Microsoft products. Its More Personal Computing segment provides Windows original equipment manufacturer (OEM) licensing and other non-volume licensing of the Windows operating system; Windows Commercial, such as volume licensing of the Windows operating system, Windows cloud services, and other Windows commercial offerings; patent licensing; Windows Internet of Things; and MSN advertising. It also offers Surface, PC accessories, PCs, tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, and other devices; Gaming, including Xbox hardware, and Xbox content and services; video games and third-party video game royalties; and Search, including Bing and Microsoft advertising. It sells its products through OEMs, distributors, and resellers; and directly through digital marketplaces, online stores, and retail stores. It has collaborations with Dynatrace, Inc., Morgan Stanley, Micro Focus, WPP plc, ACI Worldwide, Inc., and iCIMS, Inc., as well as strategic relationships with Avaya Holdings Corp. and wejo Limited. Microsoft Corporation was founded in 1975 and is based in Redmond, Washington.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $372.00 to $354.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 27th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $370.00 to $330.00 and set an "inline" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $334.31.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $291.32 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $241.51 and a 1 year high of $349.67. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.93. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $265.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.50.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.06). Microsoft had a return on equity of 43.31% and a net margin of 36.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 17th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.73%.