Claro Advisors LLC Purchases 781 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Claro Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position 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 period. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. 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 research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.45.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $103.61 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $100.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $168.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company 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 is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 67.40%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley 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 transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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 the SEC website. In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.