Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Sells 70,486 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 332,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 70,486 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $32,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.45.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $100.93 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.48. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) 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. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This is a boost 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 3.67%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.40%.

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.