Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Acquires 448 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:MS opened at $102.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $109.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $100.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.78.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 67.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 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 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.