Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd Invests $40.45 Million in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 321,773 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $40,453,000. Morgan Stanley comprises 1.2% of Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,754 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $975,000 after acquiring an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,738 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,733,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,972 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 3,768 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the firm'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 owns 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their position. 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 owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Erste Group Bank cut Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price 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. Barclays increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. 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. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of MS traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $132.08. 6,300,069 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,704,600. The company has a market cap of $211.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. 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 52 week low of $90.94 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.16.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley 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.