WD Rutherford LLC Makes New $107,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

WD Rutherford LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $107,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. CGC Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% in the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Savings Bank lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MS traded up $1.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $97.19. 9,058,849 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,320,035. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $96.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $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 has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $103.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 61.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. TheStreet raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. 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, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

Insider Activity 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 transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,353.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,353.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,154 shares of company stock worth $10,722,696 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.