Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC Purchases 126 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 16,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 999 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 15.8% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,408,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $136,932,000 after buying an additional 192,027 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 175.0% during the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $276,000. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 5,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.80.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $123.41 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 12-month low of $83.09 and a 12-month high of $136.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $128.45 and a 200-day moving average of $112.42. The stock has a market cap of $198.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

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.