Schear Investment Advisers LLC Trims Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 228 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley makes up 1.3% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBW Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.2% during the second quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 3,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. M&R Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.0% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Corton Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the third quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 6,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Excalibur Management Corp increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the third quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 13,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.9 %

MS traded up $0.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $91.06. The stock had a trading volume of 4,400,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,852,514. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $95.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $148.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.65, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.43.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,555,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,172,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,155 shares of company stock worth $16,723,094. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. 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 research note on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.90.

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.