Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stake Raised by Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA

Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 34,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents 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 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MS. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $131.78 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $120.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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 company posted $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued 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 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.43%.

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.