Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Bought by Dogwood Wealth Management LLC

Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 113.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $37,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the second quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the second quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company 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 boosted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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 boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $159.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.74. 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 1-year low of $94.33 and a 1-year high of $163.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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 paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

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

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.