Avanza Fonder AB Lowers Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Avanza Fonder AB has reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12.2%, holding 82,494 shares valued at approximately $11.62 million after selling 11,426 shares in the last quarter.
• Morgan Stanley's Board of Directors has authorized a $20 billion stock buyback program, indicating confidence in the company's valuation and allowing for the repurchase of up to 8.9% of its shares.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.00 from $0.93, leading to an annualized yield of 2.5%.

Avanza Fonder AB lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,494 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 11,426 shares during the quarter. Avanza Fonder AB's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $11,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $320,941,000 after acquiring an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $343,236,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. This trade represents a 11.66% 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 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MS. 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 report on Tuesday, June 10th. 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $139.92.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $160.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,278,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,474,375. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $147.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.93. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $163.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $256.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The firm's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 buy 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.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

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.