400,000 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Purchased by Trivest Advisors Ltd

Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 400,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $50,288,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for 2.3% of Trivest Advisors Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Franklin Resources Inc. grew 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 valued at $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $324,118,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 382.4% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $166,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,600 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 26,142.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,055,210 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $132,661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051,189 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $89,761,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:MS traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $120.26. The company had a trading volume of 10,989,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,221,598. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The business's fifty day moving average is $130.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.13. 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 firm has a market cap of $193.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

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Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MS shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $131.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company's stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

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.