Global Retirement Partners LLC Has $1.87 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 727 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.9% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after purchasing an additional 25,179 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 112,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,758,000 after purchasing an additional 10,107 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 231.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 9,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $961,000 after buying an additional 6,436 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 73,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,652,000 after buying an additional 1,408 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tanager Wealth Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.8% in the third quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 4,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $134.36 on Friday. 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 52-week low of $84.43 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.50. The firm has a market cap of $216.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target 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 increased 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. Bank of America boosted their target price 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. Finally, HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.