Employees Retirement System of Texas Acquires 95,400 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 659,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 95,400 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $64,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 24.4% during the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $774,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased 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 buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $102.34 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $100.16 and its 200-day moving average is $97.08. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $109.11. The company has a market capitalization of $166.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The company 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,848.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.