Howe & Rusling Inc. Sells 2,459 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Howe & Rusling Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 93,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,459 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley comprises 1.0% of Howe & Rusling Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $11,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $234,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 77,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,730,000 after buying an additional 18,565 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 822,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $103,370,000 after acquiring an additional 13,136 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,178,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,925,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $242,473,000 after acquiring an additional 159,065 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MS. Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.33.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.4 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $122.17 on Thursday. 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 $197.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $130.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.50. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, 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 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 approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s 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 trade 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 currently owned by company insiders.

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.