Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Grows Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 86.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 78,806 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 36,496 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $9,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,424 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,013 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,650,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 45.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,063 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 4,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 17,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MS. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $130.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. This represents a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock traded up $1.94 on Wednesday, reaching $112.32. The company had a trading volume of 9,237,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,662,839. The company's fifty day moving average is $117.84 and its 200 day moving average is $124.39. The company has a market cap of $181.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.15, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. 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 has a 1 year low of $90.55 and a 1 year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.