Vivaldi Capital Management LP Acquires 90 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Vivaldi Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $696,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after buying an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after buying an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after buying an additional 428,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $132.08 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $115.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.28. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market cap of $211.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.