CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Takes $232,000 Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,108,000 after buying an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 29.7% in the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.7% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 6,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.7% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 154,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,013,000 after purchasing an additional 5,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Warther Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MS. HSBC increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.45.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $94.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,542,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,594,498. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $109.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.94 billion, a PE ratio of 17.25, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.90.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.40%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,759,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 258,954 shares of company stock worth $27,239,058 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company 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.