Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Has $4.45 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. reduced its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,655 shares during the period. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MS. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 48,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,083,000 after acquiring an additional 2,315 shares in the last quarter. GAM Holding AG bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $1,046,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,112 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,397,000 after buying an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 226,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,457,000 after acquiring an additional 5,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 159,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,073,000 after acquiring an additional 1,679 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $139.19 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $84.41 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $224.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

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.