Cove Private Wealth LLC Makes New $367,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Cove Private Wealth LLC has made a new investment in Morgan Stanley, purchasing 2,606 shares valued at approximately $367,000 during the second quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their stakes in Morgan Stanley, with 84.19% of the stock now owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Morgan Stanley announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.00 per share, along with a stock buyback authorization of $20 billion, indicating confidence in its stock value.

Cove Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,606 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $367,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,785,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.9% in the first quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 327,978 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,265,000 after purchasing an additional 117,615 shares during the period. Tlwm raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the first quarter. Tlwm now owns 13,863 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,617,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 26,763 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $142.00.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $160.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $255.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $163.98. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $148.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $132.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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 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 an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 45.30%.

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

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 128,662 shares in the company, valued at $17,988,234.22. This represents a 16.59% 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. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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