Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 2,206 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 19.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,349 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,206 shares during the quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after acquiring an additional 696,646 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,240,089,000 after purchasing an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,870,683,000 after buying an additional 428,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $132.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $2.37 on Thursday, reaching $130.53. 6,193,141 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,676,486. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $209.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. The firm's 50 day moving average is $118.06 and its 200-day moving average is $125.32. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.94 and a one year high of $142.03.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The business 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 revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.