Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 644,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,656,000 after acquiring an additional 22,482 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 32,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,144,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $221,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,051.8% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 143,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,911,000 after buying an additional 136,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS traded down $1.73 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.91. 2,917,839 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,616,650. The company has a market capitalization of $204.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $136.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $127.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

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.