Whipplewood Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 1,154 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $145,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.4 %

MS stock opened at $129.23 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $132.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.78. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $84.43 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $208.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

About Morgan Stanley

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.