Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 184,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,161 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $25,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,426 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 59,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,918,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the first quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 3,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MS. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.85.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 186,420 shares in the company, valued at $26,307,590.40. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.7%

NYSE MS opened at $152.07 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.68. The stock has a market cap of $242.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $163.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.