Morgan Stanley (MS) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 29th

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th.

Morgan Stanley has raised its dividend payment by an average of 32.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 3 years. Morgan Stanley has a payout ratio of 45.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Morgan Stanley to earn $7.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.4%.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $92.83 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.68 and a 200-day moving average of $85.40. The firm has a market cap of $151.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $95.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.70 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,355 shares of company stock worth $22,356,602 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.07.

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.