Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Invests $371,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $371,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 17,454 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $597,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.60.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE MS opened at $120.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.97. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.01 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market capitalization of $193.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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 owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.