Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Purchased by Lifestyle Asset Management Inc.

Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MS. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 119,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. The trade was a 14.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $156.60 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $145.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.66. The stock has a market cap of $249.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $158.48. 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 posted its 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 firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during 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 was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership 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.