Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Buys 9,459 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 115.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,459 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the second quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC now owns 12,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 15,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,498,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% during the first quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 3,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MS shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.73.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total value of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,146,293.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $102.47 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $109.11. The company has a market cap of $166.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $100.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 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.