HB Wealth Management LLC Has $4.59 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,658 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 7,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Kintegral Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 19.9% during the second quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 98,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,544,000 after acquiring an additional 16,286 shares during the last quarter. Emfo LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 33.3% during the second quarter. Emfo LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 15,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,498,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Proathlete Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $102.18. 480,842 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,295,634. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $100.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.13. The company has a market cap of $166.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.40%.

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.