Iron Financial LLC Invests $230,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Iron Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 19,840,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $958,320,000 after buying an additional 1,801,927 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,878,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,257,000 after acquiring an additional 405,914 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 4,484,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,842,000 after acquiring an additional 23,461 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,840,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,505,000 after acquiring an additional 247,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,647,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,027,000 after acquiring an additional 93,030 shares during the last quarter. 74.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shares of NYSE MS traded down $0.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $75.56. The company had a trading volume of 9,679,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,560,979. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $27.20 and a 12 month high of $77.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.59.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 19.16%. The firm had revenue of $11.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Hutham S. Olayan bought 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $55.40 per share, for a total transaction of $1,385,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 190,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,545,334.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ufj Financial Group Mitsubishi sold 1,020,122 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.97, for a total value of $989,518.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $53.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 7th. Barclays raised Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $88.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets started coverage on Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $71.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $57.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $62.05.

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. The company operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.

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