Institute for Wealth Management LLC. Grows Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% in the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 77.3% in the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 810.8% during the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on MS shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Cfra raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.90.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:MS traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $90.64. The stock had a trading volume of 5,437,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,862,871. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $95.57. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The company has a market capitalization of $147.44 billion, a PE ratio of 16.65, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at $30,555,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,155 shares of company stock worth $16,723,094 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.