PDS Planning Inc Has $709,000 Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

PDS Planning Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Balefire LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $253,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 36.4% during the first quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,921 shares during the period. Sabal Trust CO raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.5% during the first quarter. Sabal Trust CO now owns 1,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 53.0% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 956,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,570,000 after purchasing an additional 331,314 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 212.2% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 187,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,910,000 after purchasing an additional 127,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE:MS opened at $139.87 on Friday. The firm 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. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $125.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on 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. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.62.

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.