Blue Fin Capital Inc. Takes Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Blue Fin Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. M&R Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the third quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 6,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Excalibur Management Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 13,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,104,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 14,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at $25,009,143.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 237,855 shares of company stock valued at $21,084,057 over the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Cfra increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $93.64. The stock had a trading volume of 5,043,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,976,032. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.41. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 61.93%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.