Strategy Asset Managers LLC Reduces Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Strategy Asset Managers LLC decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 82.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,131 shares during the quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,387,000 after buying an additional 303,654 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,029,970,000 after acquiring an additional 212,551 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,834,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $858,573,000 after acquiring an additional 242,896 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,151,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $672,969,000 after acquiring an additional 57,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.4 %

MS opened at $131.69 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $212.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $76.33 and a 52 week high of $135.51.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.94.

Morgan Stanley 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.