GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. Purchases Shares of 103,485 Morgan Stanley $MS

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 103,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,577,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McLean Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $707,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the second quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.4% in the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.13, for a total value of $4,092,770.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 399,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,325,688.65. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. This represents a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $152.07 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. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap 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. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $151.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.68.

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 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 analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. 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 research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.