Entruity Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 1,800 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Entruity Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on MS shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $108.04 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $122.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.28. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.12 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.