Truist Financial Corp Has $66.65 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 685,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 34,017 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $66,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Cornerstone Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $223,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 18,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,731,000 after buying an additional 2,051 shares during the period. Finally, Holderness Investments Co. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $370,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were 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 $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 $10,225,710.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer lowered Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $104.42 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $100.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.64.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.