Integrity Alliance LLC. Acquires New Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Integrity Alliance LLC has acquired 3,850 new shares of Morgan Stanley valued at approximately $449,000 during the first quarter.
• Morgan Stanley reported earnings of $2.13 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates of $1.98, alongside a revenue of $16.79 billion.
• The company's Board approved a $20 billion share buyback plan, indicating their belief that the stock is currently undervalued.

Integrity Alliance LLC. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,850 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $449,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,607,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 265,823 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,419,000 after buying an additional 26,383 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,561,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 11,878 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SGL Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $268,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of MS stock opened at $156.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $249.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $157.76.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast 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 share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley 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 value of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly 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, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% 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 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.25.

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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