OLD National Bancorp IN Boosts Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,785,000 after purchasing an additional 6,092 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 55.9% in the first quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 327,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,265,000 after acquiring an additional 117,615 shares during the period. Tlwm grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the first quarter. Tlwm now owns 13,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 75.0% during the first quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 62,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 26,763 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.92.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, the insider owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE MS opened at $158.12 on Tuesday. 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 has a market cap of $252.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.89. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $163.98.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The company 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.30%.

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

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.