Partners Wealth Management LLC Purchases Shares of 3,009 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Partners Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $378,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $3,975,000. World Equity Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $316,000. Lansing Street Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 12,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,288,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. Finally, Bell Bank lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 5,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. HSBC lowered 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 report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised 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. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $131.60 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $84.43 and a 12-month high of $142.03. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $132.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.16. The firm has a market cap of $212.02 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.