Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC Makes New $297,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 4,619 shares during the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 2,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 28,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,943,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,716,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 41,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,288,000 after acquiring an additional 4,430 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $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. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $128.88 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $84.43 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.57. The firm has a market cap of $207.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.