Alta Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 226 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)
by Jessica Moore · The Cerbat GemAlta Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 10.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the quarter. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.62.
Check Out Our Latest Report on MS
Morgan Stanley Stock Performance
Shares of MS stock opened at $139.87 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $90.94 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. The stock has a market cap of $224.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.44.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.
Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.
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.
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