Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Acquired by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 307,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,644 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $43,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 57.9% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.8% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 5,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,941,000 after purchasing an additional 2,728,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 53,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,253,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $160.13 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $255.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. One investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $142.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total value of $2,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 119,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. The trade was a 14.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the business’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 directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.