Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by Sage Mountain Advisors LLC

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 812 shares during the quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.9% in the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 2,152 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.2% in the third quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 2,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5.0% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $220,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 56.2% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 3,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 106,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,732,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HSBC boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE MS opened at $92.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $149.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $95.57. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.10.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 61.93%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $35,172,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 302,355 shares of company stock worth $26,753,102 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.