Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Boosts Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 105,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,594,000 after buying an additional 13,334 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 22.7% during the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 101,490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,289,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $521,000. Finally, Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 33.5% in the third quarter. Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC now owns 333,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,251,000 after purchasing an additional 83,732 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.5 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $99.65 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $96.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.86. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $103.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.70 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 61.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Cfra increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,154 shares of company stock worth $10,722,696 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.