Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Lowers Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC cut its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 39.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,233 shares during the quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chatham Capital Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. now owns 19,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,498,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $386,000. Candriam S.C.A. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 39.2% during the 4th quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 707,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,979,000 after purchasing an additional 199,465 shares during the last quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $264,000. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.7% during the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 7,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value 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 $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $119.02 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $85.01 and a 12-month high of $142.03. 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 (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays raised 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

About Morgan Stanley

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.