Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Buys 40,036 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 26.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,036 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $23,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after buying an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,213,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after purchasing an additional 428,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. This trade represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $120.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $193.91 billion, a PE ratio of 15.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $115.25 and its 200 day moving average is $124.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

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.