Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Bought by Cwm LLC

Cwm LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 125,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,582 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $11,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CGC Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 123.2% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.5 %

MS stock opened at $97.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $103.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $95.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,154 shares of company stock worth $10,722,696 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MS. TheStreet upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. HSBC increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Cfra increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.30.

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.