Cary Street Partners Financial LLC Takes $3.25 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 25,829 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,247,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,740,051,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $324,118,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.8% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,282,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $915,731,000 after buying an additional 2,453,470 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MS traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $121.66. The stock had a trading volume of 4,240,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,680,424. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $90.94 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $195.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The business's fifty day moving average is $114.39 and its 200 day moving average is $124.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.43%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.