Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by Riverwater Partners LLC

Riverwater Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 138 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third 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 last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.1% during the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 596,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,224,000 after buying an additional 9,154 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 32.7% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 99,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,424,000 after acquiring an additional 24,620 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 7.6 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $99.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $85.01 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $127.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.08. The company has a market capitalization of $160.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Barclays raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.87.

About Morgan Stanley

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.