Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by LGT Capital Partners LTD.

LGT Capital Partners LTD. lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 212,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,926 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 1.9% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $37,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Powers Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Fielder Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 3,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s top market strategist said the recent tech selloff looks like a healthy reset, with improving earnings and the economic backdrop still supportive for stocks. Why tech’s record pullback is just a ‘healthy reset’ for the bull market, according to Morgan Stanley’s top stock-market strategist
• Positive Sentiment: Related market coverage suggests investors are rotating back into stocks after the prior tech-led pullback, which can support large diversified financials like MS.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several news items mention Morgan Stanley conference activity and analyst work, but they appear to be industry-context items rather than direct catalysts for Morgan Stanley’s own fundamentals.
• Neutral Sentiment: No major Morgan Stanley earnings, guidance, or capital-return announcement was included in the latest batch of articles.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MS. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. CICC Research lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wolfe Research reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.1%

MS stock opened at $212.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $334.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $128.81 and a one year high of $219.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $189.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.55.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.