Brave Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Brave Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $956,566,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $904,714,000 after acquiring an additional 10,632,735 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $477,765,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at $451,711,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,917,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098,577 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total value of $4,396,500.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,172,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,172,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,155 shares of company stock valued at $18,149,314 in the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.45.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE MS traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $94.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,624,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,981,474. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $95.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The company has a market capitalization of $153.98 billion, a PE ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The firm had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.76%.

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.