Principal Securities Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,136 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 12,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 13,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,671,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 2,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $139.19 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $131.40 and its 200-day moving average is $118.67. 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. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $84.41 and a twelve month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

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.