Advisor OS LLC Raises Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Advisor OS LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,740,051,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $320,941,000 after buying an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 50.8% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,282,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,731,000 after buying an additional 2,453,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,403,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,685,050,000 after buying an additional 2,233,589 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.4%

MS opened at $143.00 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $135.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The company has a market cap of $229.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $90.94 and a 52 week high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 13.06%. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.90%.

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

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total transaction of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 188,949 shares of company stock worth $25,737,084 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.