Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Has $7.02 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 74,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,357 shares during the quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. Opinicus Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 3,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% in the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 53,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 shares during the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 7,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312 shares during the last quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,599,000. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 35,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $1.42 on Friday, hitting $97.19. 9,058,849 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,320,035. The company has a fifty day moving average of $96.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.71. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $103.25. The company has a market capitalization of $157.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.30.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,425,422.70. The transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,609,353.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,154 shares of company stock worth $10,722,696. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.