Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec Increases Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• The Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.5%, purchasing an additional 4,600 shares during the first quarter.
• Morgan Stanley reported $2.13 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.98, and reported revenue of $16.79 billion, which was above analysts' expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share, an increase from the previous $0.93, representing an annualized yield of 2.7%.

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 4.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,791 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during 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 last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,990,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,610,881,000 after purchasing an additional 403,956 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,523,337,000 after purchasing an additional 219,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 9,210,293 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,157,918,000 after purchasing an additional 756,116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.5%

Morgan Stanley stock traded down $2.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $148.23. The stock had a trading volume of 5,696,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,189,227. The company has a market cap of $236.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.33. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $144.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $129.71. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.09 and a 52 week high of $151.86.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current 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 issued a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 119,239 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,729,231.70. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by 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.