Eagle Strategies LLC Makes New Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Eagle Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $958,105,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,585,561,000 after purchasing an additional 5,631,435 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $512,867,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position 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 worth $2,681,778,000 after buying an additional 3,981,528 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Investors Fund L P purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at about $159,714,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several 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 target price for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE MS opened at $96.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $157.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. 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 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $109.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $100.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.40%.

Morgan Stanley Profile

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.