LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Sells 933 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. lessened its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 933 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Financial Advocates Investment Management bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $274,000. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.6% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 31,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 24.7% during the third quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 317,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,069,000 after purchasing an additional 17,036 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MS. Barclays lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. 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, November 25th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $128.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $133.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.57. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $84.43 and a one year high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $207.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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.

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.