Calamos Advisors LLC Has $51.92 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 13.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 444,987 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 70,270 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $51,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 162,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,400,000 after acquiring an additional 42,743 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 499,554 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,804,000 after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares in the last quarter. Pamalican Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $4,513,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $5,686,000. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 112.0% in the 4th quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 39,921 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,019,000 after buying an additional 21,090 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.62.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.1%

MS stock traded up $1.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $144.50. 3,974,691 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,693,141. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $90.94 and a 52-week high of $144.56. The company has a market cap of $231.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's fifty day moving average is $129.57 and its 200-day moving average is $126.09.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The firm's revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

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

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 96,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is currently 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.