Financial Counselors Inc. Has $10.06 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Financial Counselors Inc. reduced its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 79,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,291 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $10,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 17,454 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $597,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley 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 transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 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. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE MS opened at $122.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $130.39 and its 200-day moving average is $123.50. The firm has a market cap of $197.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.