Strategy Asset Managers LLC Increases Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Strategy Asset Managers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 230.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,249 shares during the quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,846,000 after acquiring an additional 27,845 shares during the period. Evercore Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,337,000 after buying an additional 9,260 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 247.2% during the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after buying an additional 15,903 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,787,000 after buying an additional 23,991 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $1.42 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $100.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 762,165 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,256,848. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $109.11. The stock has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.72.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 67.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.45.

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.