Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Has $2.95 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,576 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,954,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Financial Advocates Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.6% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 31,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,320,000 after buying an additional 1,972 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.9% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 24.7% during the third quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5.7% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 317,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,069,000 after purchasing an additional 17,036 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of MS opened at $128.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $207.86 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $133.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $84.43 and a 12 month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade 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 owned by company 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.