Veracity Capital LLC Increases Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Veracity Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 455 shares during the quarter. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC now owns 2,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 3,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New Hampshire increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 6,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other 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 transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value 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 approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $137.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $221.54 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $129.30 and a 200 day moving average of $114.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $138.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

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.