Boston Partners Sells 105,680 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Key Points

• Boston Partners reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.7%, owning 3,855,298 shares valued at approximately $448.59 million after selling 105,680 shares in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Omnia Family Wealth and Continuum Advisory, have increased their stakes in Morgan Stanley, indicating ongoing interest in the financial services provider.
• Morgan Stanley's Board of Directors has authorized a $20 billion stock repurchase plan, signaling confidence in the company's valuation, along with announcing an increase in its dividend to $1.00 per share.

Boston Partners decreased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,855,298 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 105,680 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned 0.24% of Morgan Stanley worth $448,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% during the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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 upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of MS traded down $3.96 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $144.55. The stock had a trading volume of 4,985,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,919,660. 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 firm has a market cap of $230.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.32. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $139.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.76. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.09 and a 12-month high of $149.08.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.