Amalgamated Bank Has $24.18 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Amalgamated Bank lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 248,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,516 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $24,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,846,000 after purchasing an additional 27,845 shares during the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,337,000 after purchasing an additional 9,260 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 247.2% in the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,787,000 after acquiring an additional 23,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $99.88 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $109.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $100.49 and its 200-day moving average is $96.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,848.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price 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. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.73.

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.