Y.D. More Investments Ltd Raises Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 76.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 79,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,962,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the period. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 55,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,016,000 after purchasing an additional 7,480 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 11,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 2,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of MS opened at $138.97 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $223.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $83.09 and a 1 year high of $141.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price 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. 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.