Kentucky Retirement Systems Reduces Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,817 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $10,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 45.7% in the first quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 10,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416 shares during the period. Trivium Point Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 32.7% in the first quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 3,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 846 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.4% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 25,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.8% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MS. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.38.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.0%

MS opened at $178.57 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $181.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $164.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $151.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $283.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The business had revenue of $17.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

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.