AXQ Capital LP Buys New Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS

AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,552,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,343,523,000 after acquiring an additional 167,487 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after acquiring an additional 534,708 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,441,505,000 after acquiring an additional 524,189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $2,736,648,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s oil-market commentary suggests prolonged supply disruption risk, which keeps investors focused on macro trading opportunities and broader market volatility that can benefit big investment banks. Morgan Stanley (MS) Says It’ll Take Four Months for Middle East Oil Production to Recover
• Positive Sentiment: MS has also been trading near its 52-week high, reflecting strong momentum and continued investor confidence after a better-than-expected earnings report earlier this year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Dbs Bank lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $211.07 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $126.36 and a 52-week high of $212.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.