SGL Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,954 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

SGL Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 11,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 437,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,022,000 after purchasing an additional 15,308 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $4,561,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 265,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,419,000 after purchasing an additional 26,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 128,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,161,000 after purchasing an additional 28,554 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI dropped 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:MS opened at $132.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $212.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.08.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley 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.