Sapient Capital LLC Sells 360,748 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Sapient Capital LLC cut its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 97.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 360,748 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Greystone Financial Group LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.3% in the first quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 105,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 29.7% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 22,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,084,000 after purchasing an additional 5,065 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 94.6% in the first quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 5,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 5.1% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,700,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $160,083,000 after purchasing an additional 82,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $44,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.4 %

Morgan Stanley stock traded down $1.28 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $90.83. The stock had a trading volume of 5,859,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,641,185. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.75 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 126,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,368,457.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,368,457.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 237,855 shares of company stock valued at $21,084,057. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.