1,749 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Purchased by Westmount Partners LLC

Westmount Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New Hampshire boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 6,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 3,642 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.80.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $123.47. 2,642,918 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,431,593. 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 company has a market cap of $198.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $136.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.63.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, 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 at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.