Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Purchases 3,655 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

Error: Response status code does not indicate success: 429 (Too Many Requests).

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 175.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,734 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,655 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 valued at $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $320,941,000 after buying an additional 2,728,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,403,197 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,685,050,000 after buying an additional 2,233,589 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of MS opened at $144.55 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.37, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $94.09 and a 1-year high of $149.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $139.93 and a 200 day moving average of $128.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given 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 was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% 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 worth $20,841,628 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.