Capital Square LLC Sells 412 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Capital Square LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 412 shares during the quarter. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $2,660,000. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,927,000. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 14.0% during the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 50,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,758,000 after acquiring an additional 6,198 shares in the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 26.6% in the first quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 1,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 60,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on MS. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, HSBC upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.81.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.3 %

MS traded down $0.34 during trading on Monday, reaching $134.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,166,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,044,018. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $116.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.30. The company has a market capitalization of $216.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $76.33 and a one year high of $136.24.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

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.