Meridian Wealth Management LLC Acquires 4,619 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 35.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,619 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after buying an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 382.4% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $166,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,600 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 26,142.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,055,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $132,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,189 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $89,761,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,495,000 after buying an additional 590,872 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MS. Citigroup increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.2 %

MS stock opened at $128.88 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $84.43 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.86 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 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 firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

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.