Principal Street Partners LLC Has $6.36 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Principal Street Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,895 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley comprises about 1.0% of Principal Street Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $6,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Creekmur Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 26.6% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 60,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,524 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 334,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,517,000 after purchasing an additional 3,016 shares in the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 8,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,171,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.63.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.0 %

NYSE:MS opened at $129.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.55. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $136.24. The company has a market cap of $208.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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.