First Business Financial Services Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First Business Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 35,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,434,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 16,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,026,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 351,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,913 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 108.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 4,372 shares during the period. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 72.5% in the fourth quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $123.75 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $84.43 and a 52 week high of $142.03. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $132.90 and its 200-day moving average is $121.72. The company has a market capitalization of $199.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 46.60%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.