Norden Group LLC Has $1.78 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Norden Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 116 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MS. Financial Advocates Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth approximately $274,000. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.6% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 31,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,320,000 after buying an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.3% during the third quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 6,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 484,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,538,000 after buying an additional 12,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Phillips Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 52.4% during the third quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 3,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 1,330 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % 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.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $133.11 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $84.43 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $214.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.22. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on MS shares. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays increased their price target 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.