Aspiriant LLC Acquires 173 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Aspiriant LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $137.42 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.03. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $138.08. The firm has a market cap of $221.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley 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.