Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 19.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,339 shares during the quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 53.0% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 367,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,242,000 after purchasing an additional 127,066 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 2,844 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 122,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,811,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 150,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,646,000 after acquiring an additional 3,520 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, 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 transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.53.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of MS opened at $115.23 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $185.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $129.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.78. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.