Evansbrook LLC Takes $1.25 Million Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Evansbrook LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 7,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,246,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for approximately 0.8% of Evansbrook LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 69.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 3,661 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 90.9% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 7,688 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 263,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,127,000 after purchasing an additional 15,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,805,000 after purchasing an additional 3,807 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 over the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $223.69 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $198.14 and its 200-day moving average is $182.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $352.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $130.90 and a fifty-two week high of $230.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.23%.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Ridgeback Group agreed to buy Metra Living for £1.045 billion, expanding MS into U.K. rental housing and underscoring its private-markets and real estate growth strategy. Morgan Stanley (MS) Buys Into UK Rentals With £1.045b Metra Living Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says Morgan Stanley is also benefiting from renewed investor enthusiasm for banks, with the broader financial sector hitting records ahead of the Fed meeting, which is helping support MS sentiment. Big Bank Stocks Hit Records Ahead of Fed Meeting
• Positive Sentiment: News flow continues to frame MS as a long-term growth and wealth-management winner, with commentary highlighting its ambition to reach $10 trillion in client assets and potential upside from a future SpaceX IPO mandate. Morgan Stanley (MS) Is Chasing $10 Trillion In Wealth And A SpaceX Boost
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines around Morgan Stanley today were mostly research-related, including notes on oil and sector calls, which are more likely to affect sentiment around specific industries than MS’s core earnings outlook.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. CICC Research raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.35.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.