Davis Investment Partners LLC Has $223,000 Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Davis Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 23.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Davis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ethic Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 162,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,400,000 after buying an additional 42,743 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 499,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,804,000 after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares during the last quarter. Pamalican Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,513,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,686,000. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 112.0% during the 4th quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 39,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,019,000 after purchasing an additional 21,090 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $131.78 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $120.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $125.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.29. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $90.94 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This trade represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.