May Hill Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,870,683,000 after acquiring an additional 428,956 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $1,910,200,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,019,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,385,396,000 after purchasing an additional 47,699 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $115.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $186.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $128.75 and its 200 day moving average is $124.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.73.

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.