Welch & Forbes LLC Reduces Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $386,000. Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 707,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,979,000 after purchasing an additional 199,465 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $264,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 7,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Capital Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 3,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted 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. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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 MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value 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 $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:MS opened at $119.12 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $132.56 and a 200-day moving average of $121.83. 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 (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

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.