Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Raises Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 339,545 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,540 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $39,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 83.3% in the 1st quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,467 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 67,874 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,919,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,193 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,072,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $466,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,524 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 186,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,307,590.40. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 188,949 shares of company stock worth $25,737,084. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS traded up $0.86 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $140.90. The company had a trading volume of 2,736,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,548,535. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The stock has a market cap of $226.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.24. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $90.94 and a fifty-two week high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.30%.

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.