Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 443,935 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,573 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $51,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th 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. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. Omnia Family Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,140 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 12,298 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% 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 valued at $6,019,548 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms recently issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $132.46.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley Price Performance
Shares of MS opened at $131.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $118.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.29. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $90.94 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The company has a market cap of $211.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is currently 43.43%.
About Morgan Stanley
(
Free Report)
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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