Company Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft’s underwater data center called its ‘most intriguing project’ in almost 40 years

[at MarketWatch] – As this week kicks off, tech geeks are buzzing about Microsoft putting a data center underwater in a bid to help the tech industry cut down on its air-conditioning bill. Read more on this. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) , valued at $434.77B, started trading this morning at $54.78. Today’s price range has been between $54.50 and $55.09 per share with a one year range of $39.72 to $56.85. Microsoft (MSFT) shares are currently priced at 19.96x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 11.59x 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 28 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 $2.76 which would be a $0.30 better than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $22.14 Billion. If realized, that would be a 1.89% increase over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Morgan Stanley upgraded MSFT from Equal-Weight to Overweight (Jan 13, 2016). Previously, BMO Capital Markets Initiated MSFT at to Outperform. The average price target for MSFT shares by the analysts covering it is $58.61, which is 6.99% above where the stock opened. 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