Huntleigh Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 14,087 Morgan Stanley $MS

Huntleigh Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 14,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,984,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,610,881,000 after acquiring an additional 403,956 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,337,000 after acquiring an additional 219,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,652,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,126,205,000 after acquiring an additional 442,617 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $158.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $153.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.98. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $166.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.54.

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.