Company Update (NASDAQ:MSFT): Microsoft bought LinkedIn because the robots are coming for your jobs

[Business Insider] – Microsoft’s massive $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn is still a question mark to many: What… Read more on this. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) , valued at $402.22B, started the session at $50.69. Looking at the equity, the company’s one day range is $50.50 to $51.30 with its 52-week range being $39.72 to $56.85. MSFT shares are currently priced at 18.93x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 2.21x forward p/e ratio. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $1.44 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.89%. 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. In looking at the bigger picture, the full-year EPS estimate of $2.67 would be a $0.21 better when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $22.15 Billion. If realized, that would be a 0.14% 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. The average price target for MSFT shares by the analysts covering it is $57.73, which is 13.89% above where the stock opened. See more in (NASDAQ:MSFT) Similar Articles: Stock Update (NASDAQ:MSFT): With LinkedIn deal, Microsoft is bringing in a new era of software: VC investor Market Update (NASDAQ:MSFT): Microsoft finally buys Yahoo, but it’s called LinkedIn Company Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Why Microsoft Just Bought More Minecraft