DRW Securities LLC Sells 7,515 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

DRW Securities LLC cut its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 62.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,515 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the third quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.9% during the third quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 33,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,529,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 12,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.63.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $131.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $117.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $76.33 and a 12-month high of $136.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.