Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,597 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 1,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 17,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,159,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 15,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 4,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 77.5% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 56,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,048,000 after purchasing an additional 24,477 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.0 %

MS opened at $131.60 on Friday. 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 has a twelve month low of $84.43 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.77.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio 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.