Interchange Capital Partners LLC Has $1.58 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Interchange Capital Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 830 shares during the quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 92,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,686,000 after purchasing an additional 3,855 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 31.7% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after buying an additional 5,155 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $380,000. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.9% during the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $794,000 after buying an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $120.26 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.60.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.