Parallel Advisors LLC Purchases 363 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $6,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 18,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,307,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Yardley Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $724,000. SlateStone Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 5,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. First National Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 36,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557 shares during the period. Finally, GWN Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $255,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE MS opened at $115.41 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $186.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $85.01 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $131.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.51.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, 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 insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.