Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Grows Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 211 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth about $477,765,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098,577 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $223,596,000. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 53.1% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,015,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $327,929,000 after buying an additional 1,393,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 229.0% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,215,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,369,000 after buying an additional 846,266 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MS. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. TheStreet upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. HSBC boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Cfra boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.07.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total value of $2,324,049.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 286,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,009,143.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 252,355 shares of company stock worth $22,356,602. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MS opened at $92.83 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $95.57. The company has a market cap of $151.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.40.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 3.66%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.