Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Acquired by Procyon Advisors LLC

Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 32.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,066 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $236,000. IFG Advisory LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 19,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,852,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 43,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,068,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 12,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Viking Fund Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 130,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,136,000 after purchasing an additional 30,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $91.00 target price (down previously from $102.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $93.87. 589,159 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,880,034. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $87.13 and its 200-day moving average is $84.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $153.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.36% and a net margin of 9.49%. The business had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total transaction of $841,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 323,490 shares in the company, valued at $27,215,213.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total value of $2,324,049.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 286,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,009,143.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total value of $841,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 323,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,215,213.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314 over the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.