Axiom Investors LLC DE Has $363.08 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC DE significantly increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 99.9%, now holding over 3 million shares, which constitutes about 3.4% of its portfolio.
• Several prominent investment firms, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have also boosted their stakes in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter.
• Morgan Stanley recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.00, up from $0.93, alongside a $20 billion stock buyback plan indicating confidence in the stock's value.

Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 99.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,555,015 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley comprises 3.4% of Axiom Investors LLC DE's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned about 0.19% of Morgan Stanley worth $363,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 worth $320,941,000 after buying an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,403,197 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,685,050,000 after purchasing an additional 2,233,589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the 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 owned 399,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 sale, the insider owned 119,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE MS traded up $0.78 during trading on Thursday, hitting $150.16. The stock had a trading volume of 3,896,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,572,719. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.09 and a 12 month high of $150.39. 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 company's 50-day moving average price is $142.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.24. The company has a market capitalization of $239.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.32.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The firm 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 company earned $1.82 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is an increase 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 of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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