GM Advisory Group LLC Purchases 267 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

GM Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. GM Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $471,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 111,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,810,000 after purchasing an additional 6,389 shares during the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $6,495,000. Garner Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 13,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $5,414,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 114,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,882,000 after purchasing an additional 19,125 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $100.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $100.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.64. 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 has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $109.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. 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. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer lowered Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

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.