West Branch Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

West Branch Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 439.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,445 shares during the quarter. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. boosted 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.5% during the 2nd quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total transaction of $2,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 119,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total transaction of $4,092,770.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $160.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $255.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $148.67 and its 200 day moving average is $132.96. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $163.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 buy up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.00.

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.