Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Bought by New Hampshire Trust

New Hampshire Trust raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 51.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares during the quarter. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $504,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 99.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $363,075,000 after buying an additional 1,555,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $163.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $154.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.14. 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 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $166.77. The firm has a market cap of $261.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 purchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.23.

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.