Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Buys 160 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Pension Service grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,022,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $188,555,000 after buying an additional 40,583 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 3,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 43,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,833,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $901,000. Finally, Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 328.0% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 14,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 11,295 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. Cfra upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.6 %

MS stock traded up $2.49 during trading on Thursday, hitting $98.13. The company had a trading volume of 6,765,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,393,073. The stock 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $90.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.36. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $98.26.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 286,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total value of $2,324,049.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at $25,009,143.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 237,855 shares of company stock valued at $21,084,057 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.