Capital International Sarl Lowers Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Capital International Sarl reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSFree Report) by 87.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 48,457 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% in the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2%

MS opened at $212.44 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $188.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.18. 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 company has a market cap of $335.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $128.81 and a one year high of $219.16.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley 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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