Mizuho Securities USA LLC Decreases Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 15.7% in the first quarter, now owning 99,078 shares valued at approximately $11.56 million.
• Morgan Stanley has launched a $20 billion stock buyback program, indicating management's belief that the shares are undervalued.
• The company reported a Q2 EPS of $2.13, beating estimates by $0.15, and its revenue increased 11.8% year-over-year to $16.79 billion.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 15.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,078 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 18,493 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $11,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total transaction of $1,693,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 186,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,307,590.40. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price target (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.69 on Monday, hitting $143.87. 4,024,740 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,430,031. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $138.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The company has a market cap of $229.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $93.54 and a 12-month high of $145.48.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is 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 issued a $1.00 dividend. 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. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 45.30%.

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.