Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ Acquires Shares of 2,200 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at about $108,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 306,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,801,000 after purchasing an additional 22,095 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 61.9% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 64.5% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 17,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,492,000 after purchasing an additional 6,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 66.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total transaction of $841,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 323,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,215,213.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 201,155 shares of company stock valued at $17,564,394. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MS. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Cfra raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.79.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $90.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,110,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,850,786. The company has a market cap of $147.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.81. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

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.