HCR Wealth Advisors Purchases 710 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

12 Oct 2024, 21:25 by Sarita Garza · The Markets Daily

HCR Wealth Advisors increased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 2.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 25,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 710 shares during the period. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $29,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,759,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,759,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $2.38 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $110.46. The company had a trading volume of 5,826,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,027,333. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $111.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $101.02 and its 200-day moving average is $98.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MS. HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.06.

View Our Latest Analysis on MS

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