DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP Cuts Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 921 shares during the quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 659,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,087,000 after buying an additional 95,400 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 163.8% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 152,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,874,000 after purchasing an additional 95,000 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 115,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,089,000 after buying an additional 29,575 shares during the period. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 102.5% in the second quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 46,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,491,000 after buying an additional 23,387 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 179.2% in the second quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 6,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was 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 $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $102.34 on Thursday. 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 has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $109.11. The firm has a market cap of $166.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.08.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.40%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.