Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC Buys 192 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 192 shares during the quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after purchasing an additional 604,024 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after purchasing an additional 428,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $126.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.94 and a one year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America decreased their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.46.

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.