Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 173 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 123.2% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Savings Bank grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,154 shares of company stock worth $10,722,696 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $99.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $96.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.86. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $103.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $161.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 9.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MS shares. TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.30.

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.