LVW Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

LVW Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 18.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,984 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,976 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the fourth 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 raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $3,240,089,000 after purchasing an additional 604,024 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the fourth 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after acquiring an additional 428,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eleven investment 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. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $132.46.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 now directly owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. This trade represents a 0.82% 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 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of MS traded up $2.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $130.55. The company had a trading volume of 2,335,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,661,655. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $90.94 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $209.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $118.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.32.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business's revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is currently 43.43%.

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.