Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Acquires Shares of Morgan Stanley

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC has made a new investment by acquiring shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, as reported in their latest Form 13F filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Specifically, the institutional investor bought 4,613 shares of Morgan Stanley's stock, totaling an estimated value of around $580,000.

In addition to Strategic Financial, several other institutional investors and hedge funds have adjusted their positions in Morgan Stanley stock. For instance, DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, acquiring an extra 77 shares, bringing their total holdings to 4,408 shares, valued at approximately $554,000. Similarly, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC increased its position by 2.7%, now owning 3,004 shares worth $378,000 after purchasing 78 additional shares.

Quent Capital LLC also increased its stake by 0.7%, currently holding 12,298 shares valued at $1,546,000 with an added 80 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC expanded its holdings by 0.6% and now owns 13,290 shares worth $1,671,000 after acquiring 80 more shares. Lastly, Kennebec Savings Bank lifted its stake by 2.9%, owning a total of 2,908 shares valued at $361,000 following an additional purchase of 81 shares. Collectively, institutional investors own approximately 84.19% of Morgan Stanley’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Morgan Stanley has received attention from various analysts with recent evaluations impacting its stock prospects. On January 17th, Barclays upgraded its price target for Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00, giving it an “overweight” rating. Conversely, HSBC Global Research downgraded the stock from a “strong-buy” to a “hold” in a report issued on November 26th. Wells Fargo raised the stock rating from “underweight” to “equal weight,” increasing the price target from $107.00 to $142.00 on November 15th. UBS Group also lifted its price target from $130.00 to $140.00, labeling it as “neutral.” Furthermore, HSBC revised its rating down to a “hold” and adjusted the price target from $128.00 to $131.00.

As per MarketBeat.com, the consensus rating for Morgan Stanley stands at “Hold,” with an average price target of $131.27. In total, eleven analysts have awarded the stock a hold rating while six have assigned it a buy rating.

Insider Activity

In insider news, Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley on January 21st, receiving an average of $136.20 per share, leading to a total sale value of $1,783,811.40. Following this sale, Grossman now owns approximately 197,444 shares valued at around $26,891,872.80, indicating a 6.22% decrease in their ownership stake. Furthermore, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares for an average price of $136.01, totalizing $2,380,175.00 from the transaction. After this sale, Akram holds about 81,440 shares worth approximately $11,076,654.40, reflecting a 17.69% drop in ownership. Currently, corporate insiders own about 0.24% of the stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

As for Morgan Stanley's stock performance, shares opened at $140.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $132.16 and a 200-day moving average of $119.40. Morgan Stanley’s market capitalization stands at $226.67 billion, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 1.22, and a beta of 1.37. Over the past year, its stock has fluctuated between a low of $84.43 and a high of $142.03. The company demonstrates a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, along with a current ratio and quick ratio of both 0.80.

On January 16th, Morgan Stanley announced its earnings results, revealing an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.22 for the quarter, surpassing analyst predictions of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm recorded a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Quarterly revenue reached $16.23 billion, exceeding anticipated figures of $15.03 billion and reflecting a 25.9% increase from the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will report an EPS of 8.56 for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

Additionally, the company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.925 paid to shareholders on February 14th. This translates to an annualized dividend of $3.70, giving a dividend yield of 2.63%. The record date for this dividend was January 31st, and the ex-dividend date also fell on January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s current dividend payout ratio (DPR) is at 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley is a prominent financial holding company that offers a broad spectrum of financial services and products to various clients, including corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through three primary segments: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management.

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