SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Buys 764 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 764 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $247,000. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $287,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 11,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after buying an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 75,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,067,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the period. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 12,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 3,066 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total transaction of $841,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 323,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,215,213.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MS stock traded up $0.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $94.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,624,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,981,474. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.98 billion, a PE ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $95.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.77 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.36% and a net margin of 9.49%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.76%.

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.