Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 63,316 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC trimmed its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 446,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 63,316 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $46,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DRW Securities LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 247.2% during the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after acquiring an additional 15,903 shares during the period. Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $675,000. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $3,666,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 52.2% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 16,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,501,000 after acquiring an additional 5,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Trust bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $271,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $2.38 on Friday, hitting $110.46. 5,826,183 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,027,333. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $111.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,759,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,759,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.