Telemus Capital LLC Acquires 641 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Telemus Capital LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the period. Telemus Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.2% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 95,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,117,000 after purchasing an additional 13,977 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the second quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.2% in the second quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 147,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,606,000 after acquiring an additional 7,307 shares during the last quarter. Stolper Co boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the second quarter. Stolper Co now owns 23,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 38,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,280,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. 83.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 5,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.41, for a total transaction of $517,496.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 136,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,615,166.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 5,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.41, for a total transaction of $517,496.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 136,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,615,166.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total value of $1,242,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,984 shares in the company, valued at $7,634,528. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 369,100 shares of company stock valued at $34,634,996. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of several analyst reports. HSBC initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, September 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $99.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 18th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $103.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Odeon Capital Group upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.22.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MS traded down $0.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $88.41. The company had a trading volume of 17,629,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,374,314. The stock has a market cap of $146.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $74.67 and a one year high of $100.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.04. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.99% and a net margin of 12.19%. The firm had revenue of $13.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, June 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 12.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.96%.

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.