Northstar Advisory Group LLC Acquires Shares of 3,801 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,801 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 35.8% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 162,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $20,400,000 after acquiring an additional 42,743 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 499,554 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,804,000 after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares during the period. Pamalican Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $4,513,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $5,686,000. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 112.0% in the fourth quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 39,921 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,019,000 after purchasing an additional 21,090 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on 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 equities research 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $131.89 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $211.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a PEG 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. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.18.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.

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