LSV Asset Management Has $836,000 Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

LSV Asset Management trimmed its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 80.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 35,300 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MS. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,759,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $96.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The company has a market capitalization of $157.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $109.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $100.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 67.40%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.