Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys 1,872 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 28.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,872 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,240,089,000 after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,213,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,740,051,000 after acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $1,910,200,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,112,508 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,774,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890,245 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 128,662 shares in the company, valued at $17,988,234.22. This trade represents a 16.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 188,949 shares of company stock valued at $25,737,084. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price target (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $143.00. The company had a trading volume of 3,462,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,791,441. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $135.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.74. The company has a market cap of $229.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 13.06%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 41.90%.

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.