Everpar Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Everpar Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the 1st 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 purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 119,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This trade 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 hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $155.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $248.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $145.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.84. 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 has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $158.48.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a stock 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 buy up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.