Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 842 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 842 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $9,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,846,000 after acquiring an additional 27,845 shares during the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,337,000 after buying an additional 9,260 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 247.2% in the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after buying an additional 15,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,787,000 after buying an additional 23,991 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total value of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,146,293.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on MS. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $99.31 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $100.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $161.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.40%.

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.