Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 859 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 859 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 8,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,387,000 after acquiring an additional 3,376 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 50,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,701,000 after buying an additional 2,941 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $210,000. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 93,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,728,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.3 %

MS traded down $0.33 on Wednesday, hitting $95.46. 1,413,441 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,373,352. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.28 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $95.93.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.70 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 61.93%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 237,855 shares of company stock valued at $21,084,057 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued 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 restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

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.