Richwood Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Richwood Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.06.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MS traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $113.04. 2,843,210 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,007,089. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $101.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $98.69. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $115.99. The stock has a market cap of $183.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.