Lyell Wealth Management LP Grows Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 96,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,159 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley makes up about 1.1% of Lyell Wealth Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Lyell Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $140.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $84.43 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $226.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $131.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MS. Barclays lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

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.