Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Sells 378 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 378 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $661,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CGC Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 123.2% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Savings Bank raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

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 transaction of $692,687.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of 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 have sold 118,154 shares of company stock valued at $10,722,696 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price 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. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.48.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.9 %

Morgan Stanley stock traded down $0.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $99.30. 417,296 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,531,741. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $97.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $103.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.93%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.