15,473 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Acquired by AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC

AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 15,473 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,805,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,240,089,000 after buying an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after acquiring an additional 428,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup dropped 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 report on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $131.89 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.94 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $118.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.29. The company has a market cap of $211.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

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.

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