Fortitude Family Office LLC Sells 95 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Fortitude Family Office LLC lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 95 shares during the quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $67,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 12,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Eleven equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $131.78 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $120.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.25. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.94 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.