Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by Opinicus Capital Inc.

Opinicus Capital Inc. decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 104 shares during the quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. UBS Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of 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 report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven 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.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $139.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $225.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $130.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.00. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $142.03.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

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.