Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 714,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 241,746 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $100,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BSW Wealth Partners raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.4% in the second quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 5,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $803,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 113.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 27,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,943,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. QTR Family Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $262,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 14,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.25.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 128,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,988,234.22. The trade was a 16.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of MS opened at $155.28 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $163.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.