WP Advisors LLC Invests $245,000 in Morgan Stanley $MS

WP Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,610,881,000 after buying an additional 403,956 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the 1st 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the 1st 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. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This trade represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $165.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $159.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.45. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $171.77. The company has a market capitalization of $263.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 41.03%.

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.