Schear Investment Advisers LLC Sells 228 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 228 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley accounts for about 1.3% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after buying an additional 4,098,577 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,159,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,074,718,000 after buying an additional 415,531 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,107,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,070,528,000 after buying an additional 277,909 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $956,566,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $904,714,000 after buying an additional 10,632,735 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total value of $879,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 313,490 shares in the company, valued at $27,562,040.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,155 shares of company stock worth $16,723,094 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. HSBC increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.90.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $91.06. 4,400,426 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,852,514. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.85. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $95.57. 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 company has a market cap of $148.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 61.93%.

Morgan Stanley 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.