Quadcap Wealth Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Quadcap Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 109 shares during the quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,404,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 162,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,400,000 after purchasing an additional 42,743 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 499,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,804,000 after purchasing an additional 14,283 shares in the last quarter. Pamalican Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $4,513,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $5,686,000. Finally, NatWest Group plc purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $8,052,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $131.00 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $210.17 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.98.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.