1,648 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by First National Corp MA ADV

Key Points

• First National Corp MA ADV acquired 1,648 shares of Morgan Stanley, valued at approximately $232,000, during the second quarter.
• Morgan Stanley reported a Q2 EPS of $2.13, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.98, with revenues of $16.79 billion.
• The company has authorized a $20 billion share buyback program, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

First National Corp MA ADV bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,648 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised 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 worth $2,785,000 after purchasing an additional 6,092 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.9% during the first 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 holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the first 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 holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.0% during the first 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. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $156.60 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The company has a market capitalization of $249.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $158.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $145.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $130.66.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $26,307,590.40. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $138.25.

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.

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