Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lessened its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 35.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,017 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during 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 buying an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 66,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,971,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 20,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $452,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 11,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.60.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $120.49 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $130.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.69. The stock has a market cap of $194.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.