Trilogy Capital Inc. Acquires 909 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 909 shares during the quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. QTR Family Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $262,000. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 14,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Rogco LP grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.1% during the second quarter. Rogco LP now owns 5,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $848,000 after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.7% during the second quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 2,129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $159.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.33. 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 has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $163.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $149.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $133.74.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.06%.The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider directly owned 119,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. The trade was a 14.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.