Integrated Investment Consultants LLC Reduces Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Key Points

• Integrated Investment Consultants LLC drastically reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 89%, owning only 1,897 shares valued at $221,000 after selling 15,324 shares during the first quarter.
• Notable research firms have upgraded their ratings on Morgan Stanley, with Wells Fargo raising the price target from $120.00 to $145.00 and Erste Group Bank moving from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" rating.
• Morgan Stanley announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.00 per share and initiated a $20 billion stock buyback program, indicating confidence in the company's stock value.

Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 89.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,897 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 15,324 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 604,024 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the 4th 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. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,112,508 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,774,225,000 after buying an additional 1,890,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,403,197 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,685,050,000 after buying an additional 2,233,589 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

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

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.8%

MS traded up $1.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $144.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,371,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,843,164. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business's 50-day moving average is $135.89 and its 200-day moving average is $127.98. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $90.94 and a fifty-two week high of $145.19. The stock has a market cap of $232.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share 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 reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is 41.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, 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. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $138.25.

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.