YANKCOM Partnership Invests $488,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $488,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 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 research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $138.97 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $130.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.67. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $141.48. The company has a market capitalization of $223.89 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. 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 (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.