5,435 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Acquired by Silver Lake Advisory LLC

Silver Lake Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $528,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.45.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $101.44. 4,157,367 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,546,206. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.86 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $109.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.40%.

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.