Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by Factory Mutual Insurance Co.

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 655,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 60,000 shares during the period. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $68,303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.06.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,266,848.03. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,759,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:MS traded up $2.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $110.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,826,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,027,333. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $111.47. The business’s 50-day moving average is $101.02 and its 200-day moving average is $98.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $179.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 60.96%.

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.