Castle Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Castle Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 55.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,549 shares during the period. Castle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 88.7% during the fourth quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 6,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $864,000 after buying an additional 3,232 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 10,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after buying an additional 2,029 shares during the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $218,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,343.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,748,000 after buying an additional 27,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 120,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,999,000 after buying an additional 7,407 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE MS opened at $137.13 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $130.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $117.93. 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 $83.09 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $220.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.