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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $363.00 to $335.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Microsoft from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Cowen reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $365.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. Finally, Itaú Unibanco started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 26th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $287.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $334.31.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded up $4.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $291.91. 22,619,675 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,222,438. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $264.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $241.51 and a 12 month high of $349.67.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.17 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 17th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.73%.