Morgan Stanley (MS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.93 on May 15th

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 11th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.925 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th.

Morgan Stanley has increased its dividend payment by an average of 19.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Morgan Stanley has a dividend payout ratio of 40.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Morgan Stanley to earn $9.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.2%.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $115.98 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $90.55 and a 12-month high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $187.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.73.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Morgan Stanley stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.