Morgan Stanley $MS Stock Holdings Lessened by Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 85.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,100 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $408,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,448 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 467,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,273,000 after purchasing an additional 9,056 shares during the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 52.6% in the third quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,043,000 after purchasing an additional 39,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, A4 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth $855,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.1%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $201.18 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $123.88 and a fifty-two week high of $203.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $179.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.10. The firm has a market cap of $317.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Evercore increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Dbs Bank raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha flagged that Morgan Stanley was upgraded to Buy after its strong first-quarter results, reinforcing the view that recent earnings momentum is still supporting the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage also noted that Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) ahead of the GTA VI release, underscoring continued active equity-research influence and a generally constructive tone from the bank’s analysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent stock commentary said MS has delivered a strong one-year rally, with investors still debating valuation versus earnings power rather than reacting to any single new company-specific surprise. Article Title

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value 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 approximately $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.