Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Takes $539,000 Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $539,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its stake 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 period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 123.2% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 220.6% during the 3rd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at $11,368,457.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,368,457.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 237,855 shares of company stock worth $21,084,057. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:MS traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $95.64. 4,662,561 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,411,363. The stock has a market cap of $155.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $96.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $90.69 and a 200 day moving average of $86.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

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.