TrinityPoint Wealth LLC Sells 260 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 260 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $218,000. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 78.0% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 14,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 6,204 shares in the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 35.5% during the 4th quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 12,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 3,160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MS. Erste Group Bank cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.3%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $132.08 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $90.94 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.63, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.28.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

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.