Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Purchased by Quadrant Capital Group LLC

Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 801 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in 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 period. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 30.2% in the third quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 80.0% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 240,682 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,408,000 after buying an additional 106,981 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $99.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $127.06 and its 200-day moving average is $124.25. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $85.01 and a 12-month high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for 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 prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. 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.