Wealth Alliance Sells 1,256 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Wealth Alliance trimmed its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,256 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays increased their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $134.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $216.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.92, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $132.28 and a 200-day moving average of $119.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $84.43 and a 1-year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

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.