Edgar Lomax Co. VA Buys 197,165 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Edgar Lomax Co. VA boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 116.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 366,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 197,165 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley makes up about 3.0% of Edgar Lomax Co. VA’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Edgar Lomax Co. VA’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $46,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 754,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,861,000 after buying an additional 14,690 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $207,000. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 21,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,642,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 12,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 5,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Ltd. CA boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 27,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MS. Citigroup cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $109.06 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $90.36 and a 12-month high of $142.03. The company has a market cap of $175.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. 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 50-day moving average price of $119.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.31.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,665 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,079. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.