Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Bought by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 89,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 11,295 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 31,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,944,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 17,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,647,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 116.6% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,787,000 after acquiring an additional 23,991 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer lowered Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $102.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $166.53 billion, a P/E 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 one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.97.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.40%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.