Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,563 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,784 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 382.4% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $166,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,600 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $89,761,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,335,495,000 after acquiring an additional 590,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 71.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,370,572 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $140,077,000 after acquiring an additional 569,789 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
MS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $131.27.
Get Our Latest Report on MS
Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.4 %
Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded down $0.53 on Friday, reaching $138.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,910,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,351,521. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $129.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.84. 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 1 year low of $83.09 and a 1 year high of $141.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.36.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.
Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced 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 yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.
Morgan Stanley Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
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