Covenant Asset Management LLC Sells 22,519 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Covenant Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 54.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,519 shares during the period. Covenant Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,740,149,000 after buying an additional 7,636,547 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,610,881,000 after acquiring an additional 403,956 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,337,000 after acquiring an additional 219,729 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,652,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,126,205,000 after purchasing an additional 442,617 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 in the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. 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 research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. One investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.00.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.7%

MS stock opened at $160.13 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $94.33 and a 1-year high of $163.98. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $148.67 and its 200-day moving average is $133.25. The firm has a market cap of $255.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results 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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The business had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

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.