Lincluden Management Ltd. Sells 3,360 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Lincluden Management Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 41,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,360 shares during the quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $5,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Insider Activity

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

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $129.80 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $84.43 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.41.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

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.