Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,858 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 645.8% during the 2nd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Dbs Bank raised Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.38.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were 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 owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $178.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $283.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average of $164.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $151.23. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $181.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley Company 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.