PFG Advisors Trims Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

PFG Advisors cut its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 156 shares during the quarter. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $513,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.1% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 221,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,057,000 after acquiring an additional 30,722 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 65,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,870,000 after acquiring an additional 20,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $173,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE MS opened at $115.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $131.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given 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 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.