Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $8.97 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 71,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,038 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $297,000. Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 4,619 shares in the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 2,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 28,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,943,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DJE Kapital AG bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $19,716,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.7 %

MS stock opened at $123.75 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $132.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $84.43 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MS. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of 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 upped 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s 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 $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was 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 currently owned by corporate 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.