QTR Family Wealth LLC Purchases New Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

QTR Family Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. McLean Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.5% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the second quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $159.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction 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 approximately $17,988,234.22. This trade represents a 16.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.