12,433 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Bought by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 12,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,171,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.9% during the 1st quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 8,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 334,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,517,000 after buying an additional 3,016 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 60,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,671,000 after buying an additional 1,524 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 26.6% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 50,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,758,000 after purchasing an additional 6,198 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was 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 directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,609,353.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,954 shares of company stock worth $27,239,058. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.18.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded down $1.45 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $101.76. 5,592,600 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,603,721. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $165.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.93%.

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.