Avestar Capital LLC Purchases 80 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. now owns 2,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 88.7% during the 4th quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 6,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,232 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 10,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $218,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5 %

MS opened at $137.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $220.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $131.09 and its 200 day moving average is $118.07. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.