1,888 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Bought by Gemmer Asset Management LLC

Gemmer Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 1,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,941,000 after acquiring an additional 2,728,693 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $324,118,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.0%

MS opened at $131.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $211.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.94 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $118.66 and a 200 day moving average of $125.29.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.