Decatur Capital Management Inc. Has $2.01 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Decatur Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 237 shares during the period. Decatur Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $109.06 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $119.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.31. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.36 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,665 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,079. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.