Morgan Stanley (MS) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 19th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, July 31st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, August 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 27th. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

Morgan Stanley has raised its dividend by an average of 51.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Morgan Stanley has a dividend payout ratio of 29.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Morgan Stanley to earn $3.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.2%.

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) traded down 0.91% during midday trading on Friday, reaching $46.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,959,560 shares. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $27.79 and a 52-week high of $48.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.09. The company has a market capitalization of $85.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 1.63.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $9.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.05 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 9.86% and a net margin of 16.77%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post $3.52 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 6.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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Several research firms recently commented on MS. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Macquarie restated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price (up previously from $51.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Saturday, July 22nd. Credit Suisse Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 target price (up previously from $47.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Saturday, July 22nd. Bank of America Corporation lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $47.61.

In other news, CFO Jonathan Pruzan sold 25,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.68, for a total value of $1,202,803.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 196,708 shares in the company, valued at $9,182,329.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 212,365 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.93, for a total value of $9,116,829.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,389,378 shares in the company, valued at $59,645,997.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a financial holding company. The Company’s segments include Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management. The Company’s Institutional Securities business segment provides investment banking, sales and trading, and other services to corporations, governments, financial institutions and high-to-ultra high net worth clients.