Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 7,422 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 263,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,422 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $33,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during 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 period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $513,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 66,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,971,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 168,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,600,000 after purchasing an additional 5,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 20,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $119.94 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $85.01 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The company has a market cap of $193.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $130.76 and its 200 day moving average is $122.71.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.60.

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.