Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC Has $437,000 Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 166 shares during the quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $437,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Union Savings Bank grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 13,333.3% in the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norwood Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,759,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,954 shares of company stock worth $27,239,058 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS traded down $5.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $95.85. 11,120,672 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,699,997. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $109.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.45.

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.