Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Takes Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,082 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $639,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $371,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,879,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $236,305,000 after purchasing an additional 223,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blueprint Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,609 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays increased 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. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.93.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, 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 value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $124.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $200.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.31. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $85.01 and a 1 year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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 2.97%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.