State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 9.5%, selling 42,474 shares and ending up with 404,693 shares worth approximately $47.2 million.
• CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of Morgan Stanley stock, contributing to insider sales totaling 148,149 shares worth over $20 million in the last three months.
• Morgan Stanley's quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $2.13, exceeding expectations, with revenue growth of 11.8% year-over-year, prompting several analysts to revise their price targets upwards.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 9.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 404,693 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 42,474 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $47,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 175.8% in the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 5,734 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 3,655 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.1% in the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 168,968 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $19,556,000 after purchasing an additional 6,699 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,717 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.7% during the first quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 976,001 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $113,870,000 after buying an additional 109,686 shares during the period. Finally, Liontrust Investment Partners LLP lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 37.2% during the first quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 101,580 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,851,000 after buying an additional 27,525 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MS. Citigroup reissued 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Nine equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.7%

MS stock traded down $3.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $144.55. 4,985,473 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,890,343. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.09 and a 12-month high of $149.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.37, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company 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 company earned $1.82 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders 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. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 186,420 shares in the company, valued at $26,307,590.40. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.