Alpine Bank Wealth Management Buys New Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $147,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.3% in the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 5,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 143.3% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 3,840 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.7% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 12,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.9% in the first quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 786,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,798,000 after purchasing an additional 72,838 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.62.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $137.78 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $125.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.37. The stock has a market cap of $221.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.94 and a 12 month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 43.43%.

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.