Stock Update (NASDAQ:MSFT): Microsoft Updates App With Tap and Pay to Compete With Apple

[at Bloomberg] – Microsoft Corp. said mobile-phone owners using the Microsoft Wallet app can now pay at brick-and-mortar retail stores by tapping their handsets on terminals at checkout counters. Read more on this. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) , valued at $402.38B, opened at $50.20. Looking at today’s market, MSFT one day range is $50.16 to $51.43 with its 52-week range being $39.72 to $56.85. Microsoft (MSFT) shares are currently priced at 18.75x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 2.21x earnings multiple for the same period. The company pays shareholders $1.44 per share in dividend income per year, for a current yield of 2.87%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 29 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.58 per share, which would be $0.02 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.09 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $2.67 which would be a $0.21 better than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $22.17 Billion. If realized, that would be a 0.05% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Macquarie Initiated MSFT at Neutral (Mar 4, 2016). Previously, Morgan Stanley upgraded MSFT from Equal-Weight to Overweight. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $57.76, which is 15.06% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:MSFT) Similar Articles: Stock Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft Sues DoJ Over Data Request Order (MSFT) Market Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft Says It Backs Apple in Case Over Terrorist’s Phone Stock Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft (MSFT) Stock Rallies on Bullish Coverage, Making its Own SIM Card