Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Acquired by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSFree Report) by 106.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 69,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,927 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 6,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 4,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $796,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. Finally, First National Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 49,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,793,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE MS opened at $201.18 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $123.88 and a one year high of $203.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

  • Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha flagged that Morgan Stanley was upgraded to Buy after its strong first-quarter results, reinforcing the view that recent earnings momentum is still supporting the stock. Article Title
  • Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage also noted that Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) ahead of the GTA VI release, underscoring continued active equity-research influence and a generally constructive tone from the bank’s analysts. Article Title
  • Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent stock commentary said MS has delivered a strong one-year rally, with investors still debating valuation versus earnings power rather than reacting to any single new company-specific surprise. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.95.

Get Our Latest Research Report on MS

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

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