Stenger Family Office LLC Invests $3.47 Million in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Stenger Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 27,596 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,469,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for approximately 1.2% of Stenger Family Office LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,910,200,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $324,118,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 50.8% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,282,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $915,731,000 after buying an additional 2,453,470 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 40,665 shares of company stock worth $5,288,079 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MS shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of MS traded up $1.20 on Friday, hitting $109.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,231,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,655,480. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $175.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $119.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.31. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $90.36 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley 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.