Calamos Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Calamos Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 20.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 535,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,180 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $88,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Dbs Bank boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. CICC Research boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.20.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expects Morgan Stanley to top both consensus and its own earnings estimates, helped by strong capital markets activity, wealth-management inflows, and a favorable operating backdrop.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary points to stronger trading revenue, higher investment-banking fees, and improving net interest income as catalysts for a solid second quarter.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors appear to be positioning ahead of Morgan Stanley’s earnings release on July 15, which is keeping attention on the stock but also introducing event risk.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent valuation-focused commentary suggested the shares may be expensive relative to current fundamentals, which could cap upside if earnings fail to impress.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $221.50 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $135.26 and a 52 week high of $230.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The stock has a market cap of $349.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $209.20 and a 200-day moving average of $187.61.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.