Quarry LP Makes New $42,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Quarry LP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the second quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC now owns 12,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 15,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,498,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.68.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 3.2 %

NYSE MS opened at $107.88 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $100.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.32 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.36. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $109.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors 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 3.43%. 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 payout ratio is currently 67.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the 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 owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.