Calamos Wealth Management LLC Buys 2,294 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Calamos Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,294 shares during the quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $14,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expects Morgan Stanley to top both consensus and its own earnings estimates, helped by strong capital markets activity, wealth-management inflows, and a favorable operating backdrop.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary points to stronger trading revenue, higher investment-banking fees, and improving net interest income as catalysts for a solid second quarter.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors appear to be positioning ahead of Morgan Stanley’s earnings release on July 15, which is keeping attention on the stock but also introducing event risk.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent valuation-focused commentary suggested the shares may be expensive relative to current fundamentals, which could cap upside if earnings fail to impress.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $221.50 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The company has a market cap of $349.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $135.26 and a 52 week high of $230.47. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.61.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. CICC Research lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.20.

Morgan Stanley Profile

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.