Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Bought by AA Financial Advisors LLC

AA Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 13.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. AA Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 14.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 105,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,594,000 after buying an additional 13,334 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,823,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $475,604,000 after buying an additional 74,499 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 170,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,885,000 after buying an additional 11,913 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 71.1% in the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 14,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 5,825 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 43.1% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 11,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were 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 owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 118,154 shares of company stock worth $10,722,696. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $102.84. 1,737,672 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,481,907. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $103.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $97.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

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.