Arista Wealth Management LLC Makes New $468,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Arista Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,846,000 after acquiring an additional 27,845 shares during the period. Evercore Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,337,000 after acquiring an additional 9,260 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 247.2% during the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after buying an additional 15,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,787,000 after acquiring an additional 23,991 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.73.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at $47,146,293.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,759,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total value of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 442,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,146,293.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $102.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $166.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $109.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.73.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 67.40%.

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.