Stephen Luczo, a director at Morgan Stanley (MS), recently bought 25,000 shares. The buy increased his stake by 11.8 percent, and came to a total price of just over $1.98 million.
This marks the first insider buy at the company since late 2020. Over the past three years, company insiders, including both executives and directors, have generally been regular and consistent sellers of shares.
Despite those sales, insiders at the investment bank own 21.8 percent of shares.
The stock has pulled back in recent months and is now down 8 percent over the past year. Earnings are down 11 percent and revenue is down nearly 6 percent, but the company has a 25 percent profit margin and shares trade for less than 11 times forward earnings. Even with rising interest rates and a lower deal flow potentially weighing on shares, the company is well valued here.
Action to take: Investors may want to start adding shares here. Besides the excellent valuation at current prices, shares have a starting yield of 3.5 percent. The dividend hasn’t been increased in more than a year, however, so further increases are likely, but may not be consistent.
For traders, the September $90 calls, last going for about $2.50, offer a mid-to-high double-digit return in the coming months on a rebound in shares. Traders may want to take quick profits given current volatile market conditions.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.