AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Sells 331 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,426 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.2% in the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 5,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.4% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 136,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,893,000 after purchasing an additional 9,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $158.70 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $166.77. The company has a market cap of $253.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $153.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 41.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.54.

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.