Garner Asset Management Corp Has $1.33 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Garner Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,080 shares during the period. Garner Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,146,293.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $10,225,710.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE MS opened at $99.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $100.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $109.11.

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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.