Zullo Investment Group Inc. Sells 125 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Zullo Investment Group Inc. lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 125 shares during the quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 58.5% in the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total value of $2,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 119,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. This represents 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 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.85.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $152.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $242.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.22, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $151.61 and its 200 day moving average is $135.58. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $163.98. 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 (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.