Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 384 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Ritholtz Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 384 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.06.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.2 %

MS stock opened at $110.46 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $111.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The firm has a market cap of $179.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $101.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.52.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.