GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Sells 968 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 67,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 968 shares during the quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $513,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 44.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 65,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,870,000 after acquiring an additional 20,160 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 10,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after acquiring an additional 887 shares during the period. Finally, Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $519,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $115.41 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.01 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The company has a market cap of $186.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.51.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This 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 owned by corporate insiders.

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.