Trilogy Capital Inc. Has $3.94 Million Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,943,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 111.0% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total value of $2,806,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 119,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price 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 increased their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.25.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE MS opened at $159.06 on Wednesday. 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 has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The company has a market capitalization of $253.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.74.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly 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 year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase 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 payout ratio is currently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.