Sandy Spring Bank Acquires 96 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Sandy Spring Bank grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 601,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,592,000 after purchasing an additional 4,340 shares during the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $50,288,000. GM Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $221,000. Investment House LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $226,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 228.9% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 4,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.60.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $120.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $85.01 and a 52-week high of $142.03. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $130.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.81.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

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.