Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by ASB Consultores LLC

ASB Consultores LLC lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 42.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,915 shares during the period. ASB Consultores LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,846,000 after buying an additional 27,845 shares during the period. Evercore Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,337,000 after purchasing an additional 9,260 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 247.2% during the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,787,000 after purchasing an additional 23,991 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MS. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of MS opened at $100.73 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $109.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released 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. The firm 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.40%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.