Longbow Finance SA Acquires Shares of 35,662 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Longbow Finance SA acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 35,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,483,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the third 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 last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 sale, 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. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $129.80 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37.

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, 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 firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.