Acorn Creek Capital LLC Purchases 87 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Acorn Creek Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Acorn Creek Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 391.4% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth $308,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 118,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,696,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% during the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 421,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,386,000 after acquiring an additional 21,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 184,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,988,000 after purchasing an additional 44,161 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.7%

MS stock opened at $152.07 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $94.33 and a 1-year high of $163.98. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $151.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.68. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $242.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider owned 399,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,325,688.65. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 over the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. 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, September 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.85.

Morgan Stanley 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.