Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 4,726 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 34.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,726 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MS. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a 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 report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction 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 approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE MS opened at $115.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $186.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $131.30 and a 200 day moving average of $122.23. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $85.01 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

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.