Abbrea Capital LLC Sells 560 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Abbrea Capital LLC lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 560 shares during the period. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,585,561,000 after buying an additional 5,631,435 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981,528 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,228,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,292,000 after purchasing an additional 495,055 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,387,000 after purchasing an additional 303,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $958,105,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.4 %

MS stock opened at $96.64 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $100.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.16. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $109.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick 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 company had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MS. Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.73.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at $47,146,293.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.