Integrated Investment Consultants LLC Sells 15,324 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Integrated Investment Consultants LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 89%, selling 15,324 shares, and now holds 1,897 shares valued at $221,000.
• Morgan Stanley has increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.00 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 2.8%.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets on Morgan Stanley stock, with Wells Fargo increasing its target from $120.00 to $145.00, citing a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $138.25.

Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 89.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. 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 SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $207,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,890,245 shares during the period. Finally, Pinebridge Investments L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 137.3% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 580,953 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $73,037,000 after purchasing an additional 336,179 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.0%

MS stock opened at $144.0920 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $140.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.94. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.09 and a fifty-two week high of $149.08. 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 $230.02 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. Morgan Stanley's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase 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 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 186,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,307,590.40. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

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.

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