Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Purchases 823 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 42.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after buying an additional 25,179 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 9.8% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 112,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,758,000 after acquiring an additional 10,107 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 73,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 11,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 62,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,491,000 after purchasing an additional 5,502 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $131.60 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $132.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.77. 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 company has a market cap of $212.02 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.60%.

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.