Voya Investment Management LLC Has $442.45 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,792,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 458,056 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $442,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the sale, the insider 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s 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 approximately $26,307,590.40. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $156.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $249.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $157.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $145.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.31.

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MS. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.