Bleakley Financial Group LLC Acquires 910 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 367.7% during the 4th quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 20,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,571,000 after purchasing an additional 16,079 shares in the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $724,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $141.06 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $130.31 and its 200 day moving average is $116.83. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $141.48. 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 company has a market capitalization of $227.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.