Cullinan Associates Inc. Has $4.32 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cullinan Associates Inc. lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 5.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,052 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,141 shares during the quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Eleven investment 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $133.62.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $132.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $123.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.21. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $90.94 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The firm has a market cap of $212.67 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.29.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 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 the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

About Morgan Stanley

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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