Morgan Stanley Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.00 (NYSE:MS)

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of 1.00 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, February 13th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th.

Morgan Stanley has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%per year 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 43.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Morgan Stanley to earn $9.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.4%.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $191.04 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $192.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market cap of $303.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $174.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This trade represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $2,234,883,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $343,236,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,318,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776,544 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 319.7% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,623,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,355,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476,372 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.