Callan Family Office LLC Acquires 15,827 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Callan Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 123.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 28,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,827 shares during the period. Callan Family Office LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $154.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at $19,181,552.34. This trade represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,325,688.65. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $152.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $242.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $151.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.58. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $163.98.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.