New Vernon Investment Management LLC Sells 19,074 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• New Vernon Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 69% during the first quarter, holding 8,550 shares valued at approximately $998,000 as of its latest SEC filing.
• Morgan Stanley recently reported a quarterly earnings of $2.13 per share, beating analysts' estimates, and its revenue increased by 11.8% year-over-year to $16.79 billion.
• The company announced a dividend increase to $1.00 per share with a yield of 2.7%, alongside a $20 billion share buyback plan, indicating strong confidence from the board in the stock's valuation.

New Vernon Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 69.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,550 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 19,074 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley accounts for 1.3% of New Vernon Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. New Vernon Investment Management LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 104.7% during 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. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.3%

Morgan Stanley stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $148.44. The company had a trading volume of 4,260,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,524,654. 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's 50 day moving average price is $143.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.53. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.09 and a 12 month high of $150.75. The company has a market capitalization of $236.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. 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 the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

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.