Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Sells 4,258 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 27,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,258 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $220,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.1% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 54,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,681,000 after purchasing an additional 20,871 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $122.17 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $85.01 and a 12-month high of $142.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company 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 price of $130.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.50.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.33.

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.