First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,085 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 123.2% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Savings Bank increased its stake 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 valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Cfra raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.48.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.55 during trading on Thursday, reaching $100.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,111,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,510,746. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $103.25. The company has a market cap of $162.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.98.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,353.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. 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. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.