Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp decreased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,029,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 66,066 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $96,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 17,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 18,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the third quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.2% in the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 12,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.07.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total value of $879,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 313,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,562,040.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total transaction of $879,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 313,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,562,040.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,355 shares of company stock valued at $22,356,602 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $92.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,606,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,720,944. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $95.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.93%.

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.