Accurate Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Accurate Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their target price 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. Bank of America dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Eleven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 company’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 transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 335,765 shares in the company, 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 quarter, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $131.78 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market capitalization of $211.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.25. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03.

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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.