45,328 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Purchased by Bradyco Inc.

Bradyco Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 45,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,699,000. Morgan Stanley makes up approximately 4.0% of Bradyco Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised 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 during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at $36,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $119.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $191.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $132.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.71. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $85.01 and a 1 year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.