Calton & Associates Inc. Grows Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Calton & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 120.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,462 shares during the quarter. Calton & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 108.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,393 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 4,372 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 228.9% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,926 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 4,820 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 2,681 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,754.7% in the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 69,940 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,793,000 after purchasing an additional 67,490 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $140.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,572,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,580,971. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $145.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $134.24 and a 200 day moving average of $127.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.30%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 128,662 shares in the company, valued at $17,988,234.22. The trade was a 16.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 188,949 shares of company stock valued at $25,737,084. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.