Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Purchases 528 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 54.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $189,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Calamos Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 96,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,161,000 after purchasing an additional 14,933 shares during the period. Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $219,000. Trust Point Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 11,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $111,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents 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 insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:MS opened at $136.78 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $141.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $130.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.43. 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 has a market cap of $220.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.