Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Boosts Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 23.6%, owning 19,736 shares valued at $2.78 million after purchasing an additional 3,766 shares.
• Morgan Stanley reported a quarterly EPS of $2.13, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.98, with revenue reaching $16.79 billion, an increase of 11.8% year-over-year.
• The company initiated a $20 billion share repurchase plan, indicating the board's belief that the stock is undervalued, and increased its quarterly dividend to $1.00 per share.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 23.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,766 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 99.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $363,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,015 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $157.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $251.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average of $150.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.43. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $163.98.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The firm's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 a boost 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 currently 45.30%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 136,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $149.15.

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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