Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Purchased by LGT Group Foundation

LGT Group Foundation lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSFree Report) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $958,105,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,585,561,000 after buying an additional 5,631,435 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $512,867,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Investors Fund L P acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at about $159,714,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.45.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MS

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE MS opened at $98.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $159.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $109.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.08.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 67.40%.

Morgan Stanley Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

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