Integrated Investment Consultants LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 89.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,324 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,000. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 64,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,116,000 after purchasing an additional 10,056 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 455,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,319,000 after purchasing an additional 33,819 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at $19,181,552.34. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 188,949 shares of company stock valued at $25,737,084. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MS stock opened at $143.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.94 and a 12 month high of $145.16. The stock has a market cap of $229.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.74.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.