SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC Sells 6,872 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 26,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,872 shares during the period. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total value of $4,261,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at $47,146,293.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

MS opened at $99.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $162.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.59.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.