Topsail Wealth Management LLC Has $519,000 Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Topsail Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 571 shares during the period. Topsail Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $363,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,015 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.8%

MS opened at $163.78 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $166.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The business had revenue of $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

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.