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Morgan Stanley (MS) Could Be a Great Choice

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Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.

Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and, of course, dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) is headquartered in New York, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 6.26% since the start of the year. The investment bank is paying out a dividend of $1.00 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.12% compared to the Financial - Investment Bank industry's yield of 0.8% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.41%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $4.00 is up 3.9% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Morgan Stanley has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 22.85%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Morgan Stanley's current payout ratio is 36%, meaning it paid out 36% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, MS expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $11.80 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 15.57%.

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers its shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that MS is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

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