Greenwich Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Greenwich Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $513,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 221,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,057,000 after buying an additional 30,722 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 44.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 65,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,870,000 after buying an additional 20,160 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $173,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE MS opened at $115.41 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $186.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $131.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.37.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.