Quantbot Technologies LP Acquires Shares of 30,554 Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley by purchasing 30,554 shares valued at approximately $3,565,000.
• Morgan Stanley reported earnings of $2.13 per share for the last quarter, beating estimates and achieving a year-over-year revenue increase of 11.8%.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.00 per share, representing a yield of 2.8%.

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 30,554 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,565,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,403,197 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,685,050,000 after buying an additional 2,233,589 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. 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 company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $138.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total transaction of $1,693,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 186,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,307,590.40. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS traded up $3.8940 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $147.9340. 6,759,549 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,598,055. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $141.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.99. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.09 and a 52-week high of $149.08. 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 has a market cap of $236.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.Morgan Stanley's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is 45.30%.

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

Morgan Stanley 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.