KPP Advisory Services LLC Buys 263 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

KPP Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CFM Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. CFM Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 31,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 276.6% during the 4th quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents 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.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $138.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.42, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $141.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Morgan Stanley Company 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.