Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Has $2.14 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its Morgan Stanley stake by 85% in the fourth quarter, ending with 12,041 shares valued at about $2.14 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed but generally constructive: analysts currently rate Morgan Stanley a consensus Moderate Buy with a target price of $205.95, though some firms have recently raised targets while others trimmed them or downgraded the stock.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and also paid a $1.00 quarterly dividend for a 1.9% annualized yield. The stock was trading near its 52-week high after recently rising 2.0%.

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 85.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,041 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,534 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,138,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 103.1% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,448 shares during the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 52.6% in the third quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,043,000 after purchasing an additional 39,104 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the third quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 157,575 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,048,000 after purchasing an additional 5,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 569.5% in the third quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. now owns 296,764 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $47,484,000 after purchasing an additional 252,435 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Argus increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Dbs Bank raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research downgraded Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE MS opened at $215.13 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.79. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $127.13 and a one year high of $217.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $339.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Financial stocks are trading higher, giving Morgan Stanley a sector tailwind as investors rotate into banks and capital markets names.
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital led a $33 million growth financing for Subtle Medical, highlighting continued deal activity and exposure to AI-related healthcare investing. Business Wire: Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital Leads 33 Million Growth Financing For Subtle Medical
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings results were strong, with Morgan Stanley beating both EPS and revenue estimates, which has likely helped sustain investor confidence in the stock.

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.