Morgan Stanley $MS Stake Cut by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 166,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,727 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $23,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 791,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,444,000 after acquiring an additional 27,993 shares in the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,468,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 20,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,929,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 2,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 90.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 3,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of MS stock opened at $152.07 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The company has a market capitalization of $242.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.22, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total value of $3,576,759.23. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 128,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,988,234.22. This trade represents a 16.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 in the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.