Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Trims Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSFree Report) by 88.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 93,835 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MS

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $136.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $220.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $83.09 and a 52-week high of $139.04. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $129.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.04.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MSFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

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