Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Decreases Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lessened its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 543 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $707,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the second quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.7% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the second quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.92.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $157.40 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $251.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.53.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total transaction of $1,693,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 186,420 shares in the company, valued at $26,307,590.40. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total transaction of $4,092,770.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.