MBL Wealth LLC Buys New Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS

MBL Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,680 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 8.0% in the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 15,530 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157 shares during the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 14,213 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 92.7% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 409,071 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $57,648,000 after purchasing an additional 196,836 shares during the period. Peoples Bank OH grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.3% during the second quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 4,945 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 13,594 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,915,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $152.92.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 186,420 shares in the company, valued at $26,307,590.40. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the company'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 transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $157.40 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $163.98. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $150.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.63. The firm has a market cap of $251.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board 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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