Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC Buys 208 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% during the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $141.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.28. The company has a market cap of $226.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $90.94 and a 52-week high of $145.48.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 128,662 shares in the company, valued at $17,988,234.22. The trade was a 16.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total value of $2,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 119,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.