Brown Financial Advisors Sells 3,207 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Brown Financial Advisors lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,207 shares during the quarter. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,430,000 after purchasing an additional 2,826 shares during the period. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,621,140,000 after purchasing an additional 269,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frisch Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.0 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $128.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $81.96 and a 52 week high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of 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 research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.