Leuthold Group LLC Invests $6.50 Million in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Leuthold Group LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 66,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,495,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 328.0% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 14,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 11,295 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 77,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,204,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $338,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 215,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,100,000 after buying an additional 15,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $99.31 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $100.40 and a 200 day moving average of $96.61. The stock has a market cap of $161.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. 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.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share 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 net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 67.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MS. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup raised 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. Oppenheimer lowered Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

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.