US Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

US Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 291 shares during the period. US Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 38.9% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 25,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,482,000 after buying an additional 7,153 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 132,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,911,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 5,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 12,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,184,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 59,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,806,000 after purchasing an additional 6,749 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,759,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $98.25 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.25. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $109.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.40%.

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.