Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Invests $710,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,109 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $710,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after buying an additional 604,024 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $1,910,200,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 96,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $136.69.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS traded down $1.90 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $139.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,609,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,674,067. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $90.94 and a 12-month high of $145.16. The company has a market cap of $224.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $133.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.92.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Morgan Stanley

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.