Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stake Raised by DRW Securities LLC

DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 141.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,088 shares during the quarter. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MS. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $102.47 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $100.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.86. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $109.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is presently 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.