Livelsberger Financial Advisory Buys New Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $86,000. Morgan Stanley comprises about 1.7% of Livelsberger Financial Advisory’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 15.6% during the second quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 7,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after buying an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.4% during the second quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 2,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 54,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $201,000. Finally, Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,952 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $156.47 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 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $157.76. The firm has a market cap of $249.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $145.30 and its 200 day moving average is $130.50.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The company 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 company posted $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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 paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. 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 is presently 45.30%.

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.