Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 108.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,393 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,372 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,266,600 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $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 buying an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $71,927,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.
Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley
In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Barclays upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $132.33.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on MS
Morgan Stanley Price Performance
Shares of NYSE MS traded up $0.98 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $125.25. The company had a trading volume of 4,325,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,221,122. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $202.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The business's 50-day moving average is $130.56 and its 200 day moving average is $123.31. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 46.60%.
About Morgan Stanley
(
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.
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