9,833 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Bought by PGGM Investments

PGGM Investments purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 9,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $926,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Union Savings Bank increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 13,333.3% during the fourth quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Norwood Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total value of $4,261,600.00. Following 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 258,954 shares of company stock worth $27,239,058 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned 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 a consensus target price of $101.45.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $95.85 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $109.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $99.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.67. The firm has a market cap of $155.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 67.40%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.