Whipplewood Advisors LLC Purchases 280,889 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 24,340.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 282,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 280,889 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley makes up 10.0% of Whipplewood Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Whipplewood Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $32,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% during the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced 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 note on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS traded up $2.37 on Thursday, reaching $130.53. The company had a trading volume of 6,185,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,676,479. The company has a market capitalization of $209.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $118.06 and a 200-day moving average of $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 earnings results 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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

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.