AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC Lowers Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC cut its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 38.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,002 shares during the quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Congress Park Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.92.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,325,688.65. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE MS opened at $158.96 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $163.98. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $148.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $132.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase 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 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.