J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Has $3.45 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG trimmed its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,681 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% during the first quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,075,000 after buying an additional 1,555,015 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded 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 research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the 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 directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.0%

MS stock opened at $155.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The company has a market cap of $247.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.02 and a 200-day moving average of $134.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The company’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change 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 program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.