71 West Capital Partners Purchases Shares of 9,387 Morgan Stanley $MS

71 West Capital Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 9,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,666,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,736,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,683 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $170,037,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 40.2% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,933,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,326,000 after acquiring an additional 841,263 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 in the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $217.75 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $343.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.34. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $129.66 and a twelve month high of $220.60.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. CICC Research lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.35.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: CEO Ted Pick highlighted a potential $10 trillion opportunity in wealth management, signaling a much larger addressable market and supporting a bullish long-term outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent options activity showed elevated call buying in Morgan Stanley, often a sign that investors are betting on further stock gains.
• Positive Sentiment: The firm’s most recent quarterly results were already strong, with earnings and revenue both beating expectations, which continues to support investor confidence.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent headlines also show Morgan Stanley’s analysts actively moving on other names, including downgrading Accenture and raising targets on several stocks, but those reports are not direct catalysts for MS itself.

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.