Tredje AP fonden Buys 74,600 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Tredje AP fonden boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,217,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,600 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley accounts for about 1.1% of Tredje AP fonden’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Tredje AP fonden owned 0.07% of Morgan Stanley worth $118,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 328.0% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 14,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 11,295 shares in the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 2,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $234,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $259,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $99.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.19, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $100.49 and its 200 day moving average is $96.59. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its 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 for 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 11.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.