Whittier Trust Co. Buys 755 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 18,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $707,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of MS opened at $157.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $252.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $166.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.