AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. Buys 200 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,755,000 after purchasing an additional 25,179 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.1% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 7,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 220,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,945,000 after acquiring an additional 8,902 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 837,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,352,000 after acquiring an additional 13,231 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5 %

MS stock opened at $137.13 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $130.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.93. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.