Ashburton Jersey Ltd Trims Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd lessened its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 906 shares during the period. Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,138,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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 during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.1% during the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 80.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 240,682 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,408,000 after buying an additional 106,981 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MS. Citigroup decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Twelve equities 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.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $99.75 on Friday. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $127.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.25. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $85.01 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $160.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.