Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $1.90 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 148 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:MS opened at $100.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11. The company has a market cap of $162.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $100.54 and a 200-day moving average of $96.50.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. Corporate insiders own 0.24% 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.