Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Grows Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 90.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,444 shares during the quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,426 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 59,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,918,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the period. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the first quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 22.0% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at $19,181,552.34. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $152.07 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.79. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $163.98.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The business 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 for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 45.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.85.

About Morgan Stanley

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.