Allen Capital Group LLC Has $471,000 Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Allen Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $471,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 115,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,089,000 after purchasing an additional 29,575 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $224,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.2% during the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 31,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,014,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 69.3% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 7,185 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MS opened at $138.77 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.51. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $141.48. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $223.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 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 through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’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 transaction 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. 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 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.