Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. Has $600,000 Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 52.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,689 shares during the quarter. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $1,910,200,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $135.54.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $142.78. 2,178,255 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,672,826. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.27. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $229.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $90.94 and a 1-year high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 firm posted $2.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 96,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548 in the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.