MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 544 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CGC Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 77.3% during the third 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 period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 123.2% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 220.6% in the third quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. HSBC boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total value of $2,324,049.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 286,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,009,143.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 237,855 shares of company stock worth $21,084,057. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $1.15 during trading on Monday, reaching $94.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,103,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,465,847. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $95.57. The company has a market capitalization of $154.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $90.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

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.