Morgan Stanley is doubling its dividend and buying back up to $12 billion of stock

By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business

Morgan Stanley is doubling its quarterly dividend from 35 cents a share to 70 cents a share, and buying back up to $12 billion of stock, the company announced Monday.

The powerful Wall Street bank “has accumulated significant excess capital over the past several years” Morgan Stanley chairman and CEO James Gorman said in a statement. He added that the bank “now has one of the largest capital buffers in the industry.”

While other banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, also raised their dividends, Morgan Stanley’s 100% increase appeared to be the the largest among the major banks so far.

The raised dividends are a sign of confidence after the banks last week passed so-called stress tests by the Federal Reserve. All 23 large banks that the Fed tested were “well above” their minimum capital requirements, the central bank said last week.

Bank of America is increasing its quarterly common stock dividend by 17%, and JPMorgan is increasing its dividends 11%, from 90 cents per share to $1 per share for the third quarter of 2021.

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