Aprio Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 492 shares during the quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $502,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,814,000 after purchasing an additional 15,192 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 7,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 28,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,530,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 3,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $124.03 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $128.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $199.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.36. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $83.09 and a 1-year high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.07.

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.