Torray Investment Partners LLC Has $5.29 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Key Points

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Torray Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 18.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,313 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,075 shares during the period. Torray Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $5,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total transaction of $4,092,770.00. Following the transaction, the insider 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value 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. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.4%

MS traded down $3.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $139.09. The company had a trading volume of 6,678,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,401,069. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $136.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.31. The company has a market cap of $223.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $90.94 and a 12-month high of $145.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 13.06%. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy 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 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.