Lipe & Dalton Has $2.70 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Lipe & Dalton reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,537 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley comprises 1.5% of Lipe & Dalton’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,698,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 108.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 4,372 shares during the period. ProVise Management Group LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $230,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $98,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 228.9% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 4,820 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 price target (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $136.69.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS traded up $0.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $141.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,093,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,597,769. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $133.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.11. The stock has a market cap of $226.56 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $90.94 and a 1-year high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 13.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.