Goldstone Financial Group LLC Acquires 1,232 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 26.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,232 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Channel Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. Sterling Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $225,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $135,000. Occidental Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 40,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,113,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $1,401,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MS. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.53.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE MS opened at $135.80 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $128.74 and its 200 day moving average is $113.15. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $136.24. The company has a market cap of $218.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

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.