273 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Acquired by Crowley Wealth Management Inc.

Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,845,895,000 after acquiring an additional 696,646 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $371,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,879,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $236,305,000 after acquiring an additional 223,536 shares during the period. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $606,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609 shares during the period. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 113.8% during the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 11,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 6,009 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $120.26 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $130.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.