Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Has $1.74 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,739 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after purchasing an additional 4,619 shares in the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 2,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 28,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,716,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 41,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,288,000 after buying an additional 4,430 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’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 owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $128.88 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $207.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $133.08 and a 200-day moving average of $121.57. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $84.43 and a one year high of $142.03.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.