Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Has $13.86 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,260 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $13,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted 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 during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MS. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America increased their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $113.99 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $183.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.22. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.