Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC Takes Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. 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 three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. 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. Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $102.47 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month 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 market capitalization of $166.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.40%.

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.