Quest Partners LLC Takes Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,297,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,846,000 after purchasing an additional 27,845 shares during the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the fourth 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 boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth 185,337 shares. $000,000 after acquiring an additional 9,260 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 247.2% in the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,787,000 after purchasing an additional 23,991 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of shares are currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley shares rose 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $98.18 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $159.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78, and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $100.77 and a 200 day moving average of $96.08.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% year over year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley has increased its dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders 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 an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents an annualized dividend of $3.70 and a yield of 3.77%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 67.40%.

Analysts set new price targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note from Friday, August 2. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One 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 stock. Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.45, based on data from MarketBeat.com.

Get the latest research report on Morgan Stanley

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed via this link. In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value 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 SEC, which can be accessed via this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 442,522 shares of the company’s stock, 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 worth $26,546,370 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s shares.

About Morgan Stanley

(Free Report)

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.

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