Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. Buys New Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,665 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,079 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $109.06 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $119.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.55 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a market cap of $175.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The company 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%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.43%.

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.