Versant Capital Management Inc Buys 512 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10,240.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $50,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 17,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,000 after buying an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,846,000 after buying an additional 27,845 shares in the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 258,954 shares of company stock valued at $27,239,058 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company cut Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.45.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $92.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,067,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,630,659. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $99.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.79. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $109.11. The firm has a market cap of $151.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio 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.