New York Life Investment Management LLC Sells 608 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 183,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 608 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $23,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 17,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,343 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $145,000. Sabal Trust CO acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Advisor OS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 2,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 35,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,423,000 after buying an additional 12,097 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade 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 insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.1 %

MS stock opened at $131.04 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $211.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $84.43 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $132.62 and a 200-day moving average of $120.72.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

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.