Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Acquires 689 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth $215,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $511,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 3,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $112.18 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $180.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $132.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.27.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup upped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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 raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

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.