Solstein Capital LLC Increases Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Solstein Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 92.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the quarter. Solstein Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,610,881,000 after buying an additional 403,956 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,337,000 after buying an additional 219,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,652,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,126,205,000 after buying an additional 442,617 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of MS opened at $163.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $166.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $154.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $18.22 billion for 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 41.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.23.

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.