Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Sells 52,750 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 49.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 54,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 52,750 shares during the quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $5,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,585,561,000 after purchasing an additional 5,631,435 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after buying an additional 3,981,528 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,228,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,292,000 after buying an additional 495,055 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the second 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 buying an additional 303,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $958,105,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 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 is available through this link. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the 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 directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $98.25 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.67 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The company 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 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 67.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded 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 research report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised 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, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.73.

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.