SevenBridge Financial Group LLC Acquires 1,647 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

SevenBridge Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares during the quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MS. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective 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. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.73.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $115.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $85.01 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.23.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Morgan Stanley Company 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.