Entropy Technologies LP Purchases Shares of 31,516 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 31,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,962,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,621,140,000 after acquiring an additional 269,633 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after acquiring an additional 590,872 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,263,000 after acquiring an additional 385,780 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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 report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This 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 company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.8 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $139.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $225.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $130.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.26. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $142.03. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.