Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Raises Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 159,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,679 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $20,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at $36,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $139.19 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $224.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $84.41 and a 12 month high of $142.03. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.67.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.