May Hill Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,910,200,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $324,118,000. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,282,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,453,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $195,742,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. Erste Group Bank lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $115.82 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market capitalization of $186.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.23. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

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.