Jones Financial Companies Lllp Increases Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 52.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 39,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,711 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 17,454 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in 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 buying an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $597,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,182,000 after acquiring an additional 16,350 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 6.1 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $121.32 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. The company has a market cap of $195.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $84.43 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $132.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.71.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value 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. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.