Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Cuts Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,520 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,755,000 after buying an additional 25,179 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 253,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,453,000 after buying an additional 15,311 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 5,576 shares during the period. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $814,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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 lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.1 %

MS opened at $138.35 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.14. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $141.48. 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 stock has a market cap of $222.89 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

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.