CVA Family Office LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 120,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,999,000 after purchasing an additional 7,407 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,343.0% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,748,000 after purchasing an additional 27,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Eleven equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $129.44 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.94 and a one year high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.