Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Acquired by MCF Advisors LLC

MCF Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,585,561,000 after purchasing an additional 5,631,435 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 16.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,681,778,000 after buying an additional 3,981,528 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,228,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,292,000 after purchasing an additional 495,055 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 20,197,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,883,392,000 after buying an additional 575,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,387,000 after purchasing an additional 303,654 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.45.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE MS opened at $99.56 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at $47,146,293.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total value of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 442,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,146,293.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. Insiders own 0.24% 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.