Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 60.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,038 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,515 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,621,140,000 after purchasing an additional 269,633 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,335,495,000 after buying an additional 590,872 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $881,263,000 after buying an additional 385,780 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MS has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $131.27.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MS

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $139.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.53, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The stock's fifty day moving average is $131.40 and its 200 day moving average is $118.67. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $84.41 and a 52 week high of $142.03. 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 - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

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