Pzena Investment Management LLC Purchases 27,993 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 791,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,993 shares during the quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $111,444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth $27,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $35,000. Abound Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.5% during the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MS. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 186,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,307,590.40. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the 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 directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $152.07 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $163.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.32. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.