First Business Financial Services Inc. Makes New $222,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First Business Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after buying an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 382.4% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $166,555,000 after buying an additional 1,266,600 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 26,142.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,055,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,189 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $89,761,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 590,872 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.7 %

MS opened at $123.75 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $84.43 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $132.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.72. 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 market cap of $199.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade 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.

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.