Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $7.89 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,264 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,785,000 after buying an additional 6,092 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 55.9% in the 1st quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 327,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,265,000 after acquiring an additional 117,615 shares during the period. Tlwm raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Tlwm now owns 13,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 75.0% in the 1st quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 62,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 26,763 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.85.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $155.63 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $248.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $163.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business’s fifty day moving average is $151.08 and its 200-day moving average is $135.18.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total transaction of $2,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 119,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 186,420 shares in the company, valued at $26,307,590.40. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 in the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.