Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Sells 203 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 203 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $137.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $130.67 and a 200 day moving average of $117.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $220.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

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.