AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs Acquires Shares of 44,694 Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs has acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley, purchasing 44,694 shares valued at approximately $5.72 million. This adds to a significant trend of institutional investments in the company.
• Analyst ratings for Morgan Stanley have seen upgrades, with Erste Group Bank moving it from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" and Goldman Sachs increasing its price target from $121 to $136.
• Morgan Stanley recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share and initiated a $20 billion stock repurchase plan, indicating confidence in its stock valuation.

AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 44,694 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,722,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after buying an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $320,941,000 after buying an additional 2,728,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $363,075,000 after buying an additional 1,555,015 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of MS traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $156.47. 4,341,386 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,343,304. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $157.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $249.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley 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.