Atria Investments Inc Decreases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Atria Investments Inc decreased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 105,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 568 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $13,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 17,454 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $597,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,182,000 after purchasing an additional 16,350 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a 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, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of MS opened at $123.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $84.43 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.72. 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 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 2.99%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.