Personal CFO Solutions LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Personal CFO Solutions LLC lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 17,454 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in 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 buying an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $597,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,182,000 after purchasing an additional 16,350 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $119.12 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $192.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $85.01 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $132.56 and a 200-day moving average of $122.12.

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. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other 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 transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MS shares. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

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.