Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Bought by Advisory Alpha LLC

Advisory Alpha LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $137.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $221.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $129.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.45. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $83.09 and a 1 year high of $138.38. 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 results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

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.