Spire Wealth Management Acquires 1,010 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position 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. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,941,000 after purchasing an additional 2,728,693 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $324,118,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MS. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. 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 note on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut 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 note on Tuesday, April 1st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.62.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $139.87 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $90.94 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $125.87 and a 200-day moving average of $125.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% 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 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.