Lido Advisors LLC Acquires 6,207 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Lido Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,456 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,207 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $9,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 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 valued at $3,240,089,000 after purchasing an additional 604,024 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 valued at $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 428,956 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased 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 worth $2,740,051,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $115.81 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $90.55 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The company has a market cap of $186.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $116.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.77.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 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.

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