ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Boosts Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 43.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,498,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $89,761,000. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, First County Bank CT boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 5,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 3.5 %

MS stock opened at $123.41 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $128.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.42. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $136.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $198.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven equities 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by 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.