Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Purchased by Procyon Advisors LLC

Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 32.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,066 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at $108,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 306,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,801,000 after buying an additional 22,095 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 61.9% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 64.5% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 17,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,492,000 after buying an additional 6,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 66.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,158,297.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,158,297.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,172,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 208,155 shares of company stock valued at $18,149,314 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.45.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MS traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $93.87. The stock had a trading volume of 589,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,880,034. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.09. The firm has a market cap of $153.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $12.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.77 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.76%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.