Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Purchases 988 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HTLF Bank bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $2,388,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 59.1% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,014,000 after buying an additional 8,024 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 683 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 163,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,249,000 after acquiring an additional 10,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One SA PTY Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,514,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $35,172,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total value of $879,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 313,490 shares in the company, valued at $27,562,040.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,172,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,155 shares of company stock valued at $16,723,094 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MS. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.79.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.4 %

Morgan Stanley stock traded up $1.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $91.48. 3,620,682 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,841,558. The company has a market capitalization of $148.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.67, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $88.82 and its 200 day moving average is $84.85. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $95.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.70 EPS. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.93%.

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.