Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Cuts Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 19.8%, owning 11,320,148 shares after selling 2,792,360 shares during the first quarter.
• Insiders, including Eric F. Grossman and Daniel A. Simkowitz, sold 41,000 shares in total, representing decreases of 6.05% and 6.77% in their ownership positions, respectively.
• Analysts have recently increased the target prices for Morgan Stanley, with Wells Fargo raising it from $120.00 to $145.00 and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgrading from "market perform" to "outperform."

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 19.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,320,148 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,792,360 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.71% of Morgan Stanley worth $1,320,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 15,144 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,767,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the period. GM Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,885 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,595 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $770,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 118,081 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,776,000 after buying an additional 2,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 14.7% during the first quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,181 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock traded up $3.8940 on Friday, hitting $147.9340. The company had a trading volume of 6,759,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,762,876. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $141.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.91. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.09 and a 12-month high of $149.08. 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 stock has a market cap of $236.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $26,307,590.40. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $138.25.

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.