RWA Wealth Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 41.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,705 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,272 shares during the quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,002,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $594,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS traded down $11.57 during trading on Thursday, hitting $107.70. 15,179,480 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,592,060. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market cap of $173.70 billion, a PE ratio of 13.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $85.01 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $128.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.20.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.