Winthrop Advisory Group LLC Buys Shares of 2,789 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Winthrop Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 162,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,400,000 after buying an additional 42,743 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 499,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,804,000 after buying an additional 14,283 shares in the last quarter. Pamalican Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,513,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $5,686,000. Finally, NatWest Group plc purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,052,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MS. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.46.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of MS stock opened at $127.87 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.41. 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 has a 12 month low of $90.94 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $205.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G 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, 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 net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend 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.