Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Sells 672 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 672 shares during the period. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $268,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 11,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 437,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,022,000 after buying an additional 15,308 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,561,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 265,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,419,000 after acquiring an additional 26,383 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. 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 report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.46.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $132.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market cap of $211.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $115.71 and a 200-day moving average of $125.21. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $90.94 and a 12-month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 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.