33,860 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Bought by Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 33,860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,975,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,846,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 17,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,249 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 17,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,208,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784 shares during the last quarter. Clarendon Private LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $892,000. Finally, Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 152.3% in the 4th quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $825,000 after purchasing an additional 3,962 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE:MS opened at $137.85 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $139.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $222.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.96.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

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.