Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Increases Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 115.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,459 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,585,561,000 after acquiring an additional 5,631,435 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981,528 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,228,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,292,000 after purchasing an additional 495,055 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,251,387,000 after purchasing an additional 303,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,061,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $844,973,000 after acquiring an additional 979,250 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, 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 value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $102.47 on Monday. 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 P/E ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $109.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.86.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. This is a positive change 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 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.