University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. Makes New Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 47,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,380,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for approximately 1.2% of University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick said the firm sees room for substantial growth in its wealth-management business, highlighting a long runway in that segment and reinforcing the company’s long-term earnings story.
• Positive Sentiment: Trading in Morgan Stanley options picked up, with call volume running above average, which can signal increased investor optimism around the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also remained active on the research front, including new price-target actions on multiple companies and broader market commentary that pointed to a continued bull-market backdrop.
• Negative Sentiment: One Morgan Stanley analyst downgrade on Accenture and a cautious note on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending may slightly temper sentiment around the firm’s research calls, though these were not direct hits to Morgan Stanley’s core earnings outlook.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $217.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $194.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.34. The stock has a market cap of $343.45 billion, a PE ratio of 19.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $129.66 and a 1 year high of $220.60.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on MS shares. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Evercore lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.35.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.