Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Purchases Shares of 507 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 561,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,636,000 after purchasing an additional 20,181 shares during the period. Florida Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $234,000. Baxter Bros Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 79,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,039,000 after acquiring an additional 1,432 shares during the last quarter. Bay Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $555,000. Finally, PKS Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.5 %

MS opened at $119.17 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. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $192.20 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $130.06 and a 200-day moving average of $123.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.33.

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.