Zullo Investment Group Inc. Sells 458 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Zullo Investment Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 458 shares during the quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,621,140,000 after buying an additional 269,633 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,495,000 after acquiring an additional 590,872 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,263,000 after acquiring an additional 385,780 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $140.70 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $84.43 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.40. The firm has a market cap of $226.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, 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 $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % 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, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, 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 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.