Lipe & Dalton Trims Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Lipe & Dalton lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 9.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,125 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,537 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 1.5% of Lipe & Dalton's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Lipe & Dalton's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $1,910,200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $136.69.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2%

MS traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $141.22. 1,093,035 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,597,769. The company has a market cap of $226.56 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $133.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.94 and a one year high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 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 15.33%. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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