Beacon Financial Advisory LLC Buys 110 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 73.5% in the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 12,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 5,217 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 94.7% in the first quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 3,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.6% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charter Oak Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC now owns 16,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,878,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $152.92.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $157.40 on Monday. 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 $163.98. The stock has a market cap of $251.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $150.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.63.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 186,420 shares in the company, valued at $26,307,590.40. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.