Ritholtz Wealth Management Grows Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,419 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,075,000 after buying an additional 1,555,015 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 report on Tuesday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.85.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $155.29 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.21. 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 $247.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.32. 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 (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total transaction of $2,806,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 119,239 shares in the company, valued at $16,729,231.70. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total value of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 128,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,988,234.22. The trade was a 16.59% 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 worth $20,841,628 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.