SageView Advisory Group LLC Sells 3,875 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• SageView Advisory Group LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 55.9%, selling 3,875 shares and ending the quarter with 3,060 shares valued at $357,000.
• Several major institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., increased their investments in Morgan Stanley, underscoring strong institutional support for the company.
• Morgan Stanley recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.00 per share and announced a significant $20 billion share repurchase program, indicating confidence in the company's valuation.

SageView Advisory Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 55.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,875 shares during the quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,740,149,000 after buying an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew 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 worth $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $320,941,000 after acquiring an additional 2,728,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $363,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,015 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $156.47 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average is $145.30 and its 200 day moving average is $130.49. 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 $94.33 and a 1 year high of $157.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.

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