EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 8,776 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 35.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,776 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% during the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 25,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,226,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 156,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,647,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 158,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,901,000 after acquiring an additional 35,399 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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 upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 target price (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $148.44 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $236.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $143.85 and its 200 day moving average is $129.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.09 and a 52-week high of $150.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding 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 typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.30%.

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.