Centric Wealth Management Lowers Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Centric Wealth Management decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 220 shares during the period. Centric Wealth Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 122,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,811,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,505,000. Aureus Asset Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 57,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,958,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3,067.9% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 22,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after buying an additional 22,150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.53.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly 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. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $116.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $188.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $85.01 and a 12-month high of $142.03.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.