Independent Advisor Alliance Raises Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 19.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,069 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $5,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 12,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 13,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,671,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $112.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.01 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $132.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.27. 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 (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. 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 research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

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.