Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires New Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $760,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% in the fourth 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. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $136.69.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $143.97 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.82. The company has a market cap of $230.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $90.94 and a 12-month high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.