Neumann Capital Management LLC Makes New $226,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Neumann Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5.9% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 146,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,246,000 after purchasing an additional 8,193 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 179.2% in the second quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 6,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 34.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 115,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,089,000 after buying an additional 29,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 163.8% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 152,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,874,000 after buying an additional 95,000 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $137.51 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $138.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $129.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.45. The stock has a market cap of $221.54 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven research 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 stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

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.