Wellington Management Group LLP Increases Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,129,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 471,432 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,072,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.4% during the second quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Atlatl Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at $28,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Industry tailwinds support the outlook: Zacks identified Morgan Stanley among investment banks positioned to benefit from increased technology spending, active trading, and stronger underwriting and advisory activity. These trends could support revenue growth across wealth management and institutional securities. 3 Investment Bank Stocks Set to Benefit From Industry Tailwinds
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings momentum remains a fundamental support: Morgan Stanley’s latest quarterly results showed adjusted earnings per share of $3.46, well above the $2.89 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 27.1% year over year to $21.35 billion. However, these results were released earlier and do not represent a fresh trading catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investment-banking activity remains visible: Morgan Stanley was listed among institutional buyers in recent Indian transactions involving Purple Style Labs and Lenskart. These deals may generate advisory or underwriting revenue, but the announcements do not appear material enough to directly affect MS shares. Purple Style Raises Funds Ahead of IPO

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $214.69 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $145.65 and a 12-month high of $232.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.32. The company has a market capitalization of $338.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 37.19%.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.