Fairfield Bush & CO. Makes New $205,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $1,910,200,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $324,118,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,282,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,731,000 after buying an additional 2,453,470 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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 upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,665 shares of company stock worth $5,288,079 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $107.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $89.67 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.24. The firm has a market cap of $173.98 billion, a PE ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

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.