Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $218,000 Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,755,000 after buying an additional 25,179 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 253,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,453,000 after purchasing an additional 15,311 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after buying an additional 5,576 shares during the period. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $814,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MS. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target 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, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.1 %

MS stock opened at $138.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $141.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.14. The company has a market cap of $222.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $16.23 billion for 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%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.