Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 54.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 528 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $189,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 96,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,161,000 after purchasing an additional 14,933 shares during the period. Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $219,000. Trust Point Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 11,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Optas LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $111,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $136.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $220.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $130.05 and its 200 day moving average is $116.43. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $141.48.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MS. HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

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.