Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Sells 257 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 257 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $13,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 12,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,546,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 13,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,671,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 2,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $129.58 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $84.43 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $132.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.65. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $208.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $16.23 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Eleven 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.