Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Sells 3,078 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 23,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,078 shares during the quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,990,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $320,941,000 after purchasing an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% in the 1st quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 target price (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $156.47 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $157.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $145.30 and a 200-day moving average of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 over the last ninety days. 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.