Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC Purchases 113 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction 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 approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:MS opened at $137.85 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $139.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $129.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.96. The firm has a market cap of $222.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36. 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 (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on MS shares. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

About Morgan Stanley

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.