DRW Securities LLC Raises Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

DRW Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 247.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Atomi Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth $245,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.2% in the third quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Paralel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the third quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 21,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 718,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,112,000 after purchasing an additional 5,269 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.4% in the third quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 577,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,205,000 after purchasing an additional 19,111 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.7 %

Morgan Stanley stock traded down $0.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $94.53. The company had a trading volume of 295,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,680,366. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $103.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $95.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.34, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 118,154 shares of company stock worth $10,722,696. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.