1,853 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by Cypress Wealth Services LLC

Cypress Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.9% in the second quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,748,000 after buying an additional 3,502 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6,017.7% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 148,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,880,000 after buying an additional 145,810 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 29,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,137,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth approximately $822,000. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 41.1% in the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 9,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,282,000 after buying an additional 2,649 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total value of $6,141,499.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 128,662 shares in the company, valued at $17,988,234.22. This represents a 16.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Two investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $154.85.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $155.29 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $163.98. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $152.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.21. 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 $247.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.