Dock Street Asset Management Inc. Invests $3.27 Million in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Dock Street Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 28,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,000. Morgan Stanley makes up about 0.4% of Dock Street Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,845,895,000 after acquiring an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after purchasing an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,910,200,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $136.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 199,274 shares in the company, valued at $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.6%

MS opened at $142.25 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $90.94 and a fifty-two week high of $145.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $132.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $126.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.70, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.