Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Has $2.41 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA cut its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,479 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,018 shares during the quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in 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 valued at $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $320,941,000 after buying an additional 2,728,693 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $324,118,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 price target (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $133.62.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the company's 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% 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, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3%

MS traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $141.08. The stock had a trading volume of 5,978,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,059,751. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $90.94 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $126.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.51.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. 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.