Beirne Wealth Consulting Services LLC Takes Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Beirne Wealth Consulting Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s 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 owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $140.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $226.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $84.43 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $131.89 and its 200 day moving average is $119.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.