Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,740 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for 0.1% of Grunden Financial Advisory Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 382.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,266,600 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $89,761,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in 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, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 71.2% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,370,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,077,000 after buying an additional 569,789 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of MS opened at $137.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $129.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.20. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $141.48. The company has a market capitalization of $221.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.36. 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 (NYSE:MS) last issued its 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 return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

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.