Holderness Investments Co. Acquires 218 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Holderness Investments Co. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 218 shares during the quarter. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 328.0% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 14,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 11,295 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $338,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 177,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,568,000 after acquiring an additional 7,796 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 255.5% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 7,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoylecohen LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Hoylecohen LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was 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 approximately $15,759,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $102.47 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $100.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.78. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11. The company has a market capitalization of $166.53 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.