Channel Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 1,601 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Channel Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 170,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 10,082 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.8% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 24,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,418 shares during the period. Garner Asset Management Corp increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 8.6% in the second quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 13,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,332,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $6,495,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 111,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,810,000 after buying an additional 6,389 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.53.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 4.0 %

MS opened at $135.80 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.15. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $136.24. 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 stock has a market cap of $218.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

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.