Hamlin Capital Management LLC Sells 13,303 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Hamlin Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,490,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,303 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 4.6% of Hamlin Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Hamlin Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $187,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,621,140,000 after buying an additional 269,633 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,495,000 after buying an additional 590,872 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,029,970,000 after purchasing an additional 212,551 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,263,000 after purchasing an additional 385,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.40.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $137.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $129.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market capitalization of $221.97 billion, a PE ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.36. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $83.09 and a 12-month high of $138.08.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

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.