Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Purchased by Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 574 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. CGC Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 810.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at $8,158,297.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total value of $841,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 323,490 shares in the company, valued at $27,215,213.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.66.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $89.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $144.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.78. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.