Jones Financial Companies Lllp Purchases 13,711 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 52.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,711 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $36,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $121.32 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $195.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $84.43 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $132.96 and a 200-day moving average of $121.71.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

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.