Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Has $871,000 Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 228.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,820 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $120.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $194.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.69. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC downgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.60.

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.