Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Sells 2,783 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. reduced its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,783 shares during the quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Omnia Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% during the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 33,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,529,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 12,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MS. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.29.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $134.06 on Monday. 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 $76.33 and a 12-month high of $134.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $112.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.