Umpqua Bank Increases Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Umpqua Bank grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the quarter. Umpqua Bank’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 564,663 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,990,000 after buying an additional 19,389 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 111.7% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,331,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,174,000 after buying an additional 1,230,623 shares during the last quarter. Plancorp LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 2,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 117,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,781,000 after buying an additional 36,790 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.60.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2 %

MS stock opened at $120.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.01 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.81.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.