CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC Sells 6,304 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC lowered its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 49.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,304 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.6% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the period. BOKF NA raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 81.6% in the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 96,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,035,000 after purchasing an additional 43,417 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 600.8% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,301,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116,058 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 141.0% during the first quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 6,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bornite Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $23,540,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MS. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.94.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $134.69 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $135.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $116.16 and a 200-day moving average of $105.17. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.32%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.