Bailard Inc. Sells 2,328 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Bailard Inc. decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 213,660 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,328 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $20,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 27,845 shares during the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,337,000 after purchasing an additional 9,260 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 247.2% during the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,787,000 after purchasing an additional 23,991 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:MS traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $102.33. 2,678,962 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,394,002. The company has a fifty day moving average of $100.06 and a 200 day moving average of $95.01. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $109.11. The company has a market capitalization of $166.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.45.

Insider Activity

In related 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 value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related 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 value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 worth $26,546,370 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.