Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC Buys New Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,436,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $343,236,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC owned about 0.15% of Morgan Stanley at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 price target (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% 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, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 25,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.81, for a total transaction of $3,576,759.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 128,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,988,234.22. This represents a 16.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,841,628 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MS stock opened at $159.28 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $160.14. The company has a market capitalization of $254.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $146.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.23. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 45.30%.

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

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.