Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by Profund Advisors LLC

Profund Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 449 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 328.0% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 14,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 11,295 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 177,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,568,000 after acquiring an additional 7,796 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 255.5% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 7,797 shares in the last quarter. Hoylecohen LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Hoylecohen LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 31,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,944,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MS. Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, 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 transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $102.47 on Monday. The stock 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $109.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $100.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.86.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The company 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.