Edge Capital Group LLC Sells 45,914 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Edge Capital Group LLC lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 183,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 45,914 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 1.2% of Edge Capital Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Edge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $23,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 7,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,613,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 165.9% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 9,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,242,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. Partners Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $378,000. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $3,975,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.0 %

MS stock opened at $131.60 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $212.02 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $132.37 and its 200 day moving average is $120.16. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $84.43 and a one year high of $142.03.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

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.