LVW Advisors LLC Has $858,000 Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• LVW Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley by 32.2%, holding 6,093 shares valued at approximately $858,000 as per their latest SEC filing.
• Recent analyst ratings show a consensus of "Hold" for Morgan Stanley, with an average target price of $142.00, reflecting a range of target increases from various firms.
• Morgan Stanley recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share and announced a stock buyback program worth $20 billion, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation.

LVW Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 32.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,093 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,891 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in 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 during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $320,941,000 after buying an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $343,236,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $142.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total value of $2,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 119,239 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This trade represents a 14.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $160.13 on Friday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $148.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $132.96. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $255.62 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.33. 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 (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The business 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 earned $1.82 EPS. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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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