1,934 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by Tepp RIA LLC

Key Points

• Tepp RIA LLC acquired 1,934 shares of Morgan Stanley, valued at approximately $272,000, making it the firm's 26th largest position.
• Analysts have recently raised price targets and ratings for Morgan Stanley, with recommendations ranging from "Buy" to "Neutral," and a consensus target price of $139.92.
• Morgan Stanley announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.00 per share and initiated a $20 billion share buyback plan, indicating management's belief in the stock's undervaluation.

Tepp RIA LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,934 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $272,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for approximately 0.4% of Tepp RIA LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. McLean Asset Management Corp raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.5% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the second quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Omnia Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,140 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $139.92.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $160.74 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $147.18 and a 200-day moving average of $131.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $256.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $161.09.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were 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 owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 over the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Morgan Stanley

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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