First Dallas Securities Inc. Has $712,000 Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 21.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,312 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CGC Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 123.2% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

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

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $1.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $97.19. 9,058,849 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,320,035. The company has a market cap of $157.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $103.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.71. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.82 EPS for the current 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 $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HSBC boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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 price objective on Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.30.

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.