FourThought Financial Partners LLC Decreases Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 291 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 17,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 18,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,543,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Calamos Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the third quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MS. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.30.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 237,855 shares of company stock valued at $21,084,057. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.99 during trading on Friday, hitting $93.64. 5,043,459 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,976,032. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $90.30 and its 200-day moving average is $85.98. The stock has a market cap of $152.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $95.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. 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.