Mission Wealth Management LP Cuts Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mission Wealth Management LP reduced its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,024 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5.7% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 317,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,069,000 after purchasing an additional 17,036 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 27,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,846,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 459,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,931,000 after buying an additional 92,556 shares during the period. Finally, PDS Planning Inc grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 5,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 6.1 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $121.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.71. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $84.43 and a fifty-two 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. The company has a market capitalization of $195.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.