Moran Wealth Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Moran Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 52,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 373 shares during the quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $5,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Altman Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 16,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,728,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 11,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 95,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Commerce Bank boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 1,128,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $117,676,000 after purchasing an additional 8,043 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Bancshares Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 354.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc. now owns 14,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,995 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.94.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MS opened at $131.69 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $76.33 and a one year high of $135.51. 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 firm has a market cap of $212.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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.