Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Has $3.38 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,951 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,954 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $320,941,000 after buying an additional 2,728,693 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 target price (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $136.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the 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 transaction, the director owned 96,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.3%

MS stock opened at $141.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $131.15 and a 200-day moving average of $126.47. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $90.94 and a fifty-two week high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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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