Boyd Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,267 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $319,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley
In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total transaction of $4,092,770.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have commented on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. One equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $139.92.
View Our Latest Report on Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley Price Performance
MS opened at $160.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $256.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $161.09. The company's 50-day moving average price is $147.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.93. 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 (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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current 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 usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.
About Morgan Stanley
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report).
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