Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 19,520 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 33.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,520 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $214.27 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $204.86 and a 200-day moving average of $185.47. The company has a market capitalization of $337.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $135.26 and a 1 year high of $230.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.50.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley secured conditional OCC approval for a trust charter, moving it closer to offering a federally supervised digital-asset trust and strengthening its long-term crypto custody strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary from market outlets highlighted Morgan Stanley’s favorable stance on traditional asset managers and bank stocks, which can support sentiment toward MS’s wealth-management and capital-markets model.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor articles also noted Morgan Stanley’s recently announced dividend hike and $20 billion buyback, reinforcing capital-return support for the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent posts discussed Morgan Stanley research on other companies, including price-target changes on stocks like American Airlines, Edison International, and Dominion Energy; these are informative but not direct catalysts for MS.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.