Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Position Increased by Quadrant Capital Group LLC

Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. 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 research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $99.75 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $127.06 and its 200-day moving average is $124.25. The company has a market cap of $160.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. 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 52-week low of $85.01 and a 52-week high of $142.03.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s 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 $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % 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 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.