LVW Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

by · The Cerbat Gem

LVW Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,361 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,585,561,000 after acquiring an additional 5,631,435 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981,528 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,228,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,292,000 after purchasing an additional 495,055 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,251,387,000 after acquiring an additional 303,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,970,000 after acquiring an additional 212,551 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup increased their price target 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 upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, HSBC upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.06.

Read Our Latest Research Report on MS

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of MS traded up $3.23 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $111.31. The company had a trading volume of 2,374,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,009,833. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $111.47. The stock has a market cap of $180.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.34. 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 (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 was Wednesday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.96%.

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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