Churchill Financial Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Churchill Financial Advisors LLC opened a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter, buying 5,305 shares worth about $942,000.
• Morgan Stanley recently posted strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.43 beating estimates and revenue of $20.58 billion, up 16% year over year.
• The stock has drawn a generally positive analyst tone, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.95.

Churchill Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,305 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $942,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MS opened at $201.18 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $317.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $123.88 and a 52-week high of $203.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.10.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 36.23%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha flagged that Morgan Stanley was upgraded to Buy after its strong first-quarter results, reinforcing the view that recent earnings momentum is still supporting the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage also noted that Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) ahead of the GTA VI release, underscoring continued active equity-research influence and a generally constructive tone from the bank’s analysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent stock commentary said MS has delivered a strong one-year rally, with investors still debating valuation versus earnings power rather than reacting to any single new company-specific surprise. Article Title

About Morgan Stanley

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.