Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. Invests $236,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. 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, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 6.4 %

NYSE:MS opened at $111.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $180.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.01 and a twelve month high of $142.03. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $132.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.20.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $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. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.