Nvwm LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Nvwm LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 440 shares during the quarter. Nvwm LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after acquiring an additional 25,179 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 253,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,453,000 after buying an additional 15,311 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $814,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 11,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,151,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MS. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a 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 on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $136.78 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $130.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.67. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $220.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $83.09 and a 52-week high of $141.48.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. 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.