BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Invests $8.33 Million in Morgan Stanley $MS

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 46,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,334,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 65.2% in the third quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MS shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.5%

MS opened at $211.07 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $126.36 and a 12 month high of $212.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $184.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.79.

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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. 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%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.