Northeast Investment Management Has $2.87 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Northeast Investment Management boosted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 151 shares during the quarter. Northeast Investment Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,868,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $131.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $119.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.20. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.94 and a one year high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $211.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued 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 return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities 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 was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 43.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% 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. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.