Cozad Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 1,825 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 1ST Source Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 21,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,692,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 24,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,104,000 after buying an additional 676 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 52,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,623,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $118.08 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.73. The stock has a market cap of $190.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio 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.