Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $257,000 Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 58.5% during the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total value of $2,806,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 119,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,729,231.70. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 294,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. This represents a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $152.92.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $157.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.53. The company has a market cap of $251.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $163.98.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

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.