Evexia Wealth LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Evexia Wealth LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 875 shares during the period. Evexia Wealth LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,532,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $192,665,000 after purchasing an additional 385,820 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $95,956,000. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 30,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,875,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. now owns 78,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,882,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 66.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,238,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $281,414,000 after buying an additional 892,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.9 %

MS opened at $100.03 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.60, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.