Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Trims Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 26th, 2023

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.2% during the third quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Accurate Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, My Personal CFO LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.48% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $83.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. The company has a market cap of $141.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $95.07 and a 200 day moving average of $88.89. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $72.05 and a 52 week high of $100.99.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $12.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.16 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 16.73%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 31st were paid a $0.775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 30th. This represents a $3.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 50.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alistair Darling sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.70, for a total value of $189,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,263,835.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Alistair Darling sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.70, for a total value of $189,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,263,835.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James P. Gorman sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total value of $24,232,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,112,348 shares in the company, valued at $107,819,891.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 341,699 shares of company stock valued at $33,143,046 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Odeon Capital Group upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $88.75 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. Wolfe Research downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.99.

About Morgan Stanley

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Morgan Stanley operates as a global financial services company. The firm provides investment banking products and services to its clients and customers including corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. It operates through the following segments: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management.