Van Strum & Towne Inc. Makes New Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Van Strum & Towne Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 188,949 shares of company stock valued at $25,737,084 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Nine 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MS traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $141.04. The stock had a trading volume of 242,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,556,369. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.94 and a one year high of $145.16. The company has a market capitalization of $226.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.99, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $134.24 and a 200 day moving average of $127.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The company 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 15.33% 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 purchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.90%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.