Breed s Hill Capital LLC Raises Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Breed s Hill Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 156.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,199 shares during the quarter. Breed s Hill Capital LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. 1ST Source Bank grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 12,298 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,546,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price 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. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:MS traded down $1.35 on Wednesday, hitting $127.86. The stock had a trading volume of 1,474,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,687,283. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $117.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $205.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley's quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.43%.

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.