Chatham Capital Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Chatham Capital Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,045 shares during the quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $128.33 on Thursday. 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 has a 1-year low of $90.94 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $118.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.32. The company has a market capitalization of $205.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.