Intrua Financial LLC Lowers Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Intrua Financial LLC decreased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 23.5% in the first quarter, leaving them with 5,499 shares valued at $642,000.
• Morgan Stanley recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.00, resulting in an annualized dividend of $4.00 with a yield of 2.6%.
• The company announced a $20 billion share buyback program, indicating the board's belief that the shares are currently undervalued.

Intrua Financial LLC decreased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 23.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,499 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,688 shares during the quarter. Intrua Financial LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $642,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.3% during the first quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,785,000 after purchasing an additional 6,092 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.9% during the first quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 327,978 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,265,000 after purchasing an additional 117,615 shares during the last quarter. Tlwm grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the first quarter. Tlwm now owns 13,863 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.0% during the first quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 62,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 26,763 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $156.47. The stock had a trading volume of 4,341,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,343,304. 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 capitalization of $249.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $157.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.49.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

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

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total transaction of $2,806,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 119,239 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,729,231.70. The trade was a 14.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 in the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.