Wealthspire Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,813 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 123.2% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring 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 4th quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MS. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. 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 note on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Cfra lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,609,353.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,154 shares of company stock valued at $10,722,696 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MS traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $104.09. The stock had a trading volume of 7,060,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,439,848. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $98.37 and its 200 day moving average is $92.48. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $105.82. The firm has a market cap of $169.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.