Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 410 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,990,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,610,881,000 after purchasing an additional 403,956 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,337,000 after purchasing an additional 219,729 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,652,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,126,205,000 after purchasing an additional 442,617 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $154.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total value of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 128,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,988,234.22. This trade represents a 16.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MS opened at $155.29 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $163.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $152.19 and a 200 day moving average of $136.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.59, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.