Principal Street Partners LLC Acquires 78 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Principal Street Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley accounts for about 1.5% of Principal Street Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors now owns 16,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,057,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 9,210,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,157,918,000 after buying an additional 756,116 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 71.8% in the 4th quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 2,761 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $9,366,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 23,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price 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. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $130.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $209.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.37. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $90.94 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.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

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.