Point72 Europe London LLP Makes New $2.36 Million Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 20,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 104.7% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MS. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have given 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MS stock opened at $150.50 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.09 and a twelve month high of $150.75. The stock has a market cap of $240.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $143.05 and a 200 day moving average of $129.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released 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 return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. 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 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.30%.

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

Morgan Stanley 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.