Hobbs Group Advisors LLC Sells 116 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Hobbs Group Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 116 shares during the quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 worth $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $120,182,000 after acquiring an additional 16,350 shares during the last quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth $579,000. Finally, German American Bancorp Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. now owns 77,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,070,000 after acquiring an additional 5,738 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.80.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.4 %

MS opened at $126.80 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $122.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $204.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $81.96 and a twelve month high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 56.32%.

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.