Charter Oak Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Charter Oak Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $136.63 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $83.09 and a 1 year high of $139.04. The firm has a market cap of $220.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $129.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

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.