Accredited Investors Inc. Has $299,000 Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Accredited Investors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 214 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 523,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,761,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 6,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $799,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Hawaii lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 4,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 120,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,180,000 after buying an additional 25,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,532,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,665,000 after acquiring an additional 385,820 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Twelve equities research 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.87.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $106.38 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 firm has a market capitalization of $171.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.40, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $123.09 and its 200-day moving average is $124.24. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $85.01 and a 1 year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. 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 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

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.