Microsoft Hikes Dividend, Announces $60 Billion Stock Buyback

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Microsoft (MSFT) knows how to keep long-term investors happy. The tech giant is returning another $60 billion in cash to shareholders through a new stock buyback plan and raised its dividend by more than 10%.

Microsoft's share repurchase program, which has no expiration date, replaces its previous $60 billion authorization announced four years ago. Meanwhile, investors also cheered the news that shareholders of record as of Nov. 21 will receive a quarterly dividend of 83 cents per share, up from the current 75 cents a share.

Microsoft disbursed nearly $22 billion in dividends over the past 12 months and still had levered free cash flow of $56.7 billion. Even better for long-time dividend-growth investors, Microsoft has hiked its payout every year for more than two decades. If it can keep its streak alive, Microsoft will be eligible for inclusion in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, which are some of the best dividend stocks for reliable and rising payouts.

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Please note that although the share repurchase program matches Microsoft's largest-ever authorization, $60 billion represents only about 1.8% of its massive $3.22 trillion market cap.

Shares in Microsoft, the world's second most valuable publicly traded company after Apple (AAPL), were actually lagging the broader market by about 3 percentage points on a price basis for the year-to-date through September 17.

But as a long-term holding, MSFT stock is hard to beat. Indeed, anyone who put $1,000 into Microsoft 20 years ago would be very pleased with their returns today.

Wall Street loves MSFT stock

Wall Street analysts were already plenty bullish on the Magnificent 7 stock before it announced its plans to return more cash to shareholders. Only three Dow Jones stocks garner Strong Buy consensus recommendations, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Of the 56 analysts issuing opinions on Microsoft stock, 40 call it a Strong Buy, 14 have it at Buy and two rate it at Hold. Only UnitedHealth Group (UNH) gets a higher rating from industry analysts than MSFT.

Meanwhile, with an average target price of $502, the Street gives MSFT stock implied price upside of 16% over the next 12 months or so.

Analysts' bullishness on Microsoft stems largely from its enviable position in generative artificial intelligence (AI).

As the "leading generative AI enabling provider," Microsoft offers the most "comprehensive end-to-end AI tooling stack and cutting-edge front-end generative AI applications across its entire portfolio of products," notes the software team at Truist Securities, which rates shares at Buy.

"Microsoft is expected to be a leading benefactor of AI workloads across each layer of the generative AI value chain," says Truist. "From increased data storage and high-performance compute to additive workloads across their PaaS portfolio. Additionally, their Copilot products are expected to add fuel to expansions and upsells across their application portfolio."

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Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the publication full time in 2016.

A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, SmartMoney, InvestorPlace, DailyFinance and other tier 1 national publications. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Consumer Reports and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among many other outlets. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.

In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about markets and macroeconomics.

Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.

Disclosure: Dan does not trade individual stocks or securities. He is eternally long the U.S equity market, primarily through tax-advantaged accounts.