Golden State Equity Partners Sells 372 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Golden State Equity Partners decreased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 372 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in 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 worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth $27,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% in the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.92.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $159.68 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $254.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $146.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.64. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $161.09. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction of $3,576,759.23. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 128,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,988,234.22. The trade was a 16.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total transaction of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.