Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Purchased by Delos Wealth Advisors LLC

Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 13,333.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $38,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Corton Capital Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Excalibur Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the third quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 13,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.6 %

MS traded up $2.49 during trading on Thursday, reaching $98.13. The company had a trading volume of 6,765,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,393,073. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $159.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $98.26.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (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 in the previous year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 237,855 shares of company stock valued at $21,084,057 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MS. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Cfra boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

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.