Calamos Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 20.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 535,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,180 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $88,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was 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 $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Key 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. CICC Research boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $214.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.20.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $221.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $209.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.61. The firm has a market cap of $349.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $135.26 and a 1 year high of $230.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company 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 business posted $2.60 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.