Berman Capital Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 1,203 Morgan Stanley (MS)

Berman Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4,072.2% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,548,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 13,223,517 shares in the last quarter. Kiwi Wealth Investments Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,912,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 136.8% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 5,453,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,226,000 after purchasing an additional 3,150,224 shares in the last quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.2% in the third quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. now owns 20,810,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $969,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,262,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,498 shares in the last quarter. 84.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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In related news, CFO Paul C. Wirth sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.40, for a total transaction of $1,060,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 169,031 shares in the company, valued at $7,166,914.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey S. Brodsky sold 15,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.38, for a total transaction of $675,209.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 112,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,876,779.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Several brokerages have commented on MS. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 18th. Credit Suisse Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, February 20th. Societe Generale downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 1st. Finally, ValuEngine downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.25.

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $42.03 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.20. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $36.74 and a twelve month high of $59.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.67.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $8.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 17.43% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 26.03%.

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

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