Dividend Alert: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock rose 4.22% after hours yesterday, as it posted earnings beats in its Q2 results.

In today’s trading session, the company’s stock opened at 51.820 and was last seen trading at 51.755.

As per the valuation analysis, price to earnings ratio of Microsoft Corporation sits at 34.412, which is reached by dividing the current market price by EPS.

In looking at where the stock is trading on a technical level, the stock is trading +2.314% away from its 50 day moving average of 53.702.

The company has a market cap of $440.05 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.63. Analysts are estimating that MSFT will report earnings per share of $0.69 next quarter. The company had revenue of $21660.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $21043.40 million. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter past year.

M’soft shares are now up $2.06 to $54.12 on more than 58 million shares. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 18th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 16th. The 52-week low of the share price is at $39.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Moreover, Valueact Holdings L.P. has 19.37% of their total portfolio invested in the company, equating to 75.27 million shares. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 20.1% in the fourth quarter.

Microsoft saw its Productivity and Business Processes revenue fell 2% but increased 5% in constant currencies to $6.7 billion as Office and cloud services revenue was driven by growth in Office 365, which saw nearly a 70% constant currency revenue increase. The shares have been rated as hold from 4 Wall Street Analysts. Private Asset Management now owns 124,161 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,888,000 after buying an additional 5,697 shares during the period. Daiwa SB Investments now owns 187,423 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,398,000 after buying an additional 127,744 shares during the period.

Now the company Insiders own 3.76% of Microsoft Corporation shares according to the proxy statements. Jacobs & Company now owns 166,973 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,812,000 after buying an additional 5,345 shares during the period.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MSFT. Pacific Crest reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, December 28th. Citigroup Inc. reissued a “sell” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Company shares were Upgraded by Morgan Stanley on Jan 13, 2016 to Overweight, Raises Price Target to $ 66 from a previous price target of $57.