Orrstown Financial Services Inc. Has $619,000 Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Orrstown Financial Services Inc. has significantly increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 63.7%, now holding 4,395 shares valued at $619,000.
• During the latest quarterly earnings report, Morgan Stanley reported earnings per share of $2.13, exceeding estimates, along with an 11.8% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.00, reflecting a positive change from the previous $0.93, and initiated a $20 billion stock buyback program.

Orrstown Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 63.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,395 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,711 shares during the quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 111.0% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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, September 16th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $139.92.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS traded down $0.24 on Tuesday, hitting $160.47. The company had a trading volume of 3,190,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,473,942. The stock has a market capitalization of $256.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.17, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $147.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.93. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $163.98.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is currently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total value of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 128,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,988,234.22. This represents a 16.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.