Cooper Financial Group Increases Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cooper Financial Group increased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 382.4% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $166,555,000 after buying an additional 1,266,600 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $89,761,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after buying an additional 590,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 71.2% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,370,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,077,000 after acquiring an additional 569,789 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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 note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of MS opened at $124.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $128.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.02. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $136.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.36.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.