Vicus Capital Acquires New Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS

Vicus Capital bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 48.9% in the 2nd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 3,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 12,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.7% in the second quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.4% during the second quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 5,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $803,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total transaction of $1,693,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 186,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,307,590.40. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total transaction of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% 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 over the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:MS opened at $155.28 on Friday. 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 fifty day moving average is $150.02 and its 200-day moving average is $134.16. The firm has a market cap of $247.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion for 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%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, September 16th. One investment 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.25.

About Morgan Stanley

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.