Apollon Wealth Management LLC Increases Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 111.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,684 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 38,355 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. 1ST Source Bank raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,002,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the first quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 18,378 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,144,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vivaldi Capital Management LP raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 5,096 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $696,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $136.69.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS traded down $1.39 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $142.59. 2,132,477 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,651,641. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $145.16. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.82. The stock has a market cap of $228.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.