Good Life Advisors LLC Has $1.05 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Good Life Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,157 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $140.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $226.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $84.43 and a 12-month high of $142.03. 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 50-day simple moving average of $132.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.40.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

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.