Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by HBW Advisory Services LLC

HBW Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 30.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 937 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $994,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 3,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 1,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. Cfra upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.45.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction 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 approximately $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 258,954 shares of company stock valued at $27,239,058 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $92.95. 6,067,625 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,630,659. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. The company’s 50-day moving average is $99.57 and its 200 day moving average is $93.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.40%.

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.