Accredited Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,845,895,000 after acquiring an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,240,089,000 after purchasing an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after purchasing an additional 428,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Erste Group Bank lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $120.23 on Friday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $115.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.73. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $90.94 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $193.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.43%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at $11,545,403.20. This trade represents a 0.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. Insiders own 0.19% 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.