Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 19th

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.98 per share by the software giant on Thursday, December 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a 7.7% increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91.

Microsoft has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Microsoft has a dividend payout ratio of 24.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Microsoft to earn $23.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.6%.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $497.12 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $460.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $420.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.68, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. CLSA reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.