South Plains Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 8,082 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,082 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,016,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE MS traded down $1.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $118.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,564,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,676,091. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $191.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $90.94 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $115.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.79.

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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend 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.