Leavell Investment Management Inc. Grows Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the first 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 holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 1st 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 boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,610,881,000 after acquiring an additional 403,956 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,337,000 after acquiring an additional 219,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the first 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 worth $1,126,205,000 after purchasing an additional 442,617 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.8%

NYSE:MS opened at $163.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.14. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $166.77. The firm has a market cap of $261.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. 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 (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

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.