Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 216,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,245 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $20,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 123.2% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 220.6% during the 3rd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MS. Bank of America increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $35,172,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total value of $4,396,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,172,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 302,355 shares of company stock worth $26,753,102 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE MS traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $93.86. The company had a trading volume of 5,100,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,804,559. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.57. The company has a market capitalization of $152.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $89.41 and its 200 day moving average is $85.26.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

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.