Fielder Capital Group LLC Acquires Shares of 2,249 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 93,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,728,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 88,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,234,000 after acquiring an additional 22,266 shares during the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. TCG Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 335.7% in the fourth quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC now owns 170,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,863,000 after acquiring an additional 131,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $398,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at $25,009,143.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 237,855 shares of company stock worth $21,084,057. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MS. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price target (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. HSBC upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of MS traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $94.79. The stock had a trading volume of 5,103,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,465,847. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $154.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.14. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.93%.

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.