Northeast Investment Management Sells 158 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Northeast Investment Management reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 24,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 158 shares during the quarter. Northeast Investment Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 2,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MS. Citigroup upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $139.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $130.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.26. The company has a market cap of $225.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $83.09 and a 12-month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced 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 company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.