Capital Investment Counsel Inc Buys 500 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.45.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.0 %

MS traded down $0.97 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $100.78. The stock had a trading volume of 3,396,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,498,563. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $109.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The business 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 11.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.40%.

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.