Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Board Announces Stock Repurchase Program

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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 reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $133.62.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.1%

Morgan Stanley stock traded up $1.64 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $144.50. The company had a trading volume of 3,974,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,680,902. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $90.94 and a 12-month high of $144.56. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $129.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.93. The firm has a market cap of $231.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 43.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 199,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 96,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.