Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 375,330,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,754,915 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 99.9% of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. owned 0.24% of Morgan Stanley worth $70,592,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.4% during the second quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.7% during the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Security National Bank of SO Dak acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target (down from $250.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Zacks Research cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, HSBC increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.81.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

These are some of the MS headlines that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley agreed to acquire Vinyl Equity, a digital transfer agent that provides share transfers, shareholder recordkeeping and cap-table services. Bringing these capabilities in-house could deepen the firm’s services to corporate clients and strengthen links to its workplace and wealth-management businesses. Why Is Morgan Stanley Bringing Transfer Agency In House?
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are weighing Morgan Stanley’s recent digital initiatives, including transfer agency and tokenization, against whether its returns on capital justify its strong multiyear share-price gains. The coverage raises a valuation question but does not report a new change to earnings or guidance. Can Morgan Stanley Justify Its Price After New Digital Moves?
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley director Judith Miscik sold 2,480 shares for about $454,000, reducing her stake by 3.72%. The sale is a modest potential sentiment headwind given her substantial remaining holding. Morgan Stanley Director Sells Shares

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $189.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $152.80 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $193.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.44. The stock has a market cap of $295.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.93 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 19.26%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.51%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Judith Miscik sold 2,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.21, for a total transaction of $454,360.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 64,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,764,830.15. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. Its Institutional Securities business offers services such as financial advisory, capital raising, sales and trading, and research. The company also provides financial planning, brokerage and banking services through its Wealth Management business, while its Investment Management business offers investment strategies and portfolio management to a range of clients.