Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Holdings Lifted by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after acquiring an additional 25,179 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 322.9% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 9,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $953,000 after purchasing an additional 6,981 shares in the last quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Silverlake Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $211,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $139.88 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $130.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.35. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $225.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.