2,215 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Purchased by Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC

Key Points

• Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC purchased 2,215 shares of Morgan Stanley, valued at approximately $312,000, marking a new stake in the company.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs, have also increased their holdings in Morgan Stanley recently, with 84.19% of the stock now owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Morgan Stanley recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.00 per share, representing a 2.5% yield, and has authorized a stock buyback plan of $20 billion.

Matthew Goff Investment Advisor LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,215 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.3% in the first quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,785,000 after purchasing an additional 6,092 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its position 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 valued at $38,265,000 after acquiring an additional 117,615 shares in the last quarter. Tlwm lifted 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 valued at $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 26,763 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective 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 restated a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 target price (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $139.92.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $159.68. 14,899,195 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,623,391. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $161.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $131.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The business's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the firm'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 owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is currently 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.