Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 918 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 39.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $407,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $137.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $220.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.46. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $83.09 and a 1-year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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 will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’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 transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven equities research 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

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.