Perigon Wealth Management LLC Purchases 19,385 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 70.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,385 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $6,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 17,454 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,040,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,182,000 after buying an additional 16,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $597,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $136.63 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market cap of $220.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $139.04.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the 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 directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.