4,754 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by Catalyst Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Catalyst Investment Management LLC disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Morgan Stanley, buying 4,754 shares valued at about $844,000.
• Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.43 versus estimates of $3.02 and revenue of $20.58 billion, up 16% year over year.
• Analysts remain generally positive on MS: several raised price targets, and the stock currently carries a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $206.35.

Catalyst Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,754 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $844,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Dbs Bank boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citizens Jmp restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.35.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE:MS opened at $223.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $352.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $130.90 and a 1 year high of $230.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $198.14 and a 200-day moving average of $182.49.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The company's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 365,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Ridgeback Group agreed to buy Metra Living for £1.045 billion, expanding MS into U.K. rental housing and underscoring its private-markets and real estate growth strategy. Morgan Stanley (MS) Buys Into UK Rentals With £1.045b Metra Living Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says Morgan Stanley is also benefiting from renewed investor enthusiasm for banks, with the broader financial sector hitting records ahead of the Fed meeting, which is helping support MS sentiment. Big Bank Stocks Hit Records Ahead of Fed Meeting
• Positive Sentiment: News flow continues to frame MS as a long-term growth and wealth-management winner, with commentary highlighting its ambition to reach $10 trillion in client assets and potential upside from a future SpaceX IPO mandate. Morgan Stanley (MS) Is Chasing $10 Trillion In Wealth And A SpaceX Boost
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines around Morgan Stanley today were mostly research-related, including notes on oil and sector calls, which are more likely to affect sentiment around specific industries than MS’s core earnings outlook.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.

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