Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% during the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 810.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS traded up $0.66 during trading on Thursday, hitting $94.16. 6,659,334 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,981,409. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $153.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.77 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 65.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.45.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at $8,158,297.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,158,297.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,555,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,155 shares of company stock valued at $18,149,314 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is currently 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.