Phillips Wealth Planners LLC Sells 586 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC cut its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 586 shares during the quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE MS opened at $136.00 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 $83.09 and a one year high of $138.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several research reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

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.