Fielder Capital Group LLC Decreases Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Fielder Capital Group LLC decreased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 802 shares during the quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 17,454 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $597,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,182,000 after acquiring an additional 16,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of MS opened at $129.23 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $84.43 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $208.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $132.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.78. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of several research reports. 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. Citigroup lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

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.