Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Position Raised by Charter Oak Capital Management LLC

Charter Oak Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,776 shares during the quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Griffin Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 22,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares during the last quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Nilsine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 9,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the period. Finally, Berkshire Bank lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 8,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,044,000 after buying an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted 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, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $136.63 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $139.04. 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 $220.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.04.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

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.