Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Cuts Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 79.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,141 shares during the quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $52,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 77.3% during the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Union Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,609,353.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,154 shares of company stock valued at $10,722,696 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock traded down $0.80 on Wednesday, hitting $100.74. 5,194,271 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,164,414. The firm has a market cap of $163.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.41. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $103.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.30.

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.