Mirador Capital Partners LP Makes New $241,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mirador Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 170,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,520,000 after acquiring an additional 10,082 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.8% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 24,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,418 shares in the last quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.6% during the second quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 13,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080 shares during the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $6,495,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 111,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,810,000 after buying an additional 6,389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $135.80 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $128.74 and a 200-day moving average of $113.15. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $136.24. The stock has a market cap of $218.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

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.