21,640 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Bought by GC Wealth Management RIA LLC

Key Points

• GC Wealth Management RIA LLC purchased 21,640 shares of Morgan Stanley, valued at approximately $3,048,000, during the second quarter.
• Analyst upgrades included a target price increase from Goldman Sachs to $136 and from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to $160, with multiple firms issuing favorable ratings for the stock.
• Morgan Stanley's board authorized a $20 billion share buyback program, indicating confidence in the company’s stock valuation and increasing its quarterly dividend to $1.00 per share.

GC Wealth Management RIA LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 21,640 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,048,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.5% in the 2nd 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 period. Congress Park Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the 2nd 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. Lantz Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $142.00.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total transaction of $2,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 119,239 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This trade represents a 14.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $160.13 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $148.67 and a 200-day moving average of $133.25. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $163.98. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $255.62 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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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