Synovus Financial Corp Buys 3,364 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5.9%, acquiring an additional 3,364 shares, bringing its total holdings to 60,273 shares valued at approximately $7 million.
• Multiple large investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have significantly increased their stakes in Morgan Stanley, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Morgan Stanley recently announced a dividend increase to $1.00 per share and initiated a $20 billion share repurchase program, suggesting management's confidence in the company's value.

Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 60,273 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,364 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 worth $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth approximately $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the first 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 buying an additional 2,989,122 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the first 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 during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 20.0% during the fourth 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 during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. 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. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 target price (up previously 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. 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $147.9340 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $236.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $141.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.91. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.09 and a 52-week high of $149.08.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

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.

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