Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Bought by Sivia Capital Partners LLC

Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,621,140,000 after buying an additional 269,633 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,495,000 after acquiring an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,970,000 after purchasing an additional 212,551 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,834,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $858,573,000 after purchasing an additional 242,896 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,263,000 after purchasing an additional 385,780 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.07.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock traded up $0.46 on Monday, hitting $123.91. 3,376,792 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,542,479. The stock has a market cap of $199.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $83.09 and a 1-year high of $136.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $128.45 and a 200-day moving average of $112.63.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 EPS 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.