Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Has $832,000 Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 66,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,971,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 11,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.8% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 45,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,000 after buying an additional 7,151 shares during the period. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.3% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 18,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after buying an additional 3,448 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $120.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $130.55 and a 200-day moving average of $122.81. The company has a market capitalization of $193.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $85.01 and a 52-week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the 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 $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Erste Group Bank cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Twelve 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.60.

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.