JGP Wealth Management LLC Cuts Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

JGP Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 121 shares during the quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew 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 worth $25,000 after buying 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 about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.5% in 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 during the period. 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 issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.85.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,325,688.65. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total value of $1,693,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 186,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,307,590.40. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $155.29 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.21. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.32. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.