Stock Update (NASDAQ:MSFT): [$$] Microsoft Stock Volatile but Dividend Is Good

[at Barrons.com] – Microsoft (MSFT: Nasdaq) By Hilliard Lyons ($55.09, Feb. 1, 2016) We decrease our price target on Microsoft by $2 to $58 and lower our opinion on shares to Neutral from Buy. Our forward revenue assumption … Read more on this. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) , with a current market cap of $419.19B, began trading this morning at $54.18. Looking at the stock, its one day range is $52.65 to $54.26 with its 52-week range being $39.72 to $56.85. Microsoft (MSFT) shares are currently priced at 19.75x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry ’s 6.91x earnings multiple for the same period. And for dividend hunters, the company pays shareholders $1.44 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.61%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 29 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.65 per share, which would be $0.04 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.04 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $2.77 which would be a $0.31 better than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $22.16 Billion. If realized, that would be a 1.98% increase over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Morgan Stanley upgraded MSFT from Equal-Weight to Overweight (Jan 13, 2016). Previously, BMO Capital Markets Initiated MSFT at to Outperform. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $58.92, which is 8.75% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:MSFT) Similar Articles: Stock Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – MICROSOFT IS UP 10%: Here’s what a one-point move in MSFT does to the Dow Company Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft (MSFT) Stock Up on New Financial Reporting Structure Market Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – One Reason Microsoft (MSFT) Stock Closed Up