First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 731 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 731 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third 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 last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third 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 last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $131.60 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $84.43 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $132.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.16. The company has a market capitalization of $212.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.57, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

About Morgan Stanley

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.