14,533 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Acquired by Congress Asset Management Co.

Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 14,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,827,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $139.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $224.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.53, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. 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 price of $131.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $118.67. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $84.41 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.