Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Boosts Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 52.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 35,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,097 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,423,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $129.58 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $132.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market cap of $208.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $84.43 and a twelve month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

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.