Larson Financial Group LLC Sells 939 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Larson Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 939 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.8% in the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 115.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,305,000 after purchasing an additional 119,633 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $87,558,000. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $579,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $131.25 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $117.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.78. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $76.33 and a fifty-two week high of $136.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $211.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MS. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.