Foster & Motley Inc. Sells 928 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Foster & Motley Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 928 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Advisory Alpha LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.6% in the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 3,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 48,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,555,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 125,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,770,000 after buying an additional 14,175 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 96.6% during the first quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 33,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 16,507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 11.6 %

MS stock opened at $131.43 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $108.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.92. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $73.96 and a 12 month high of $133.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MS. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.24.

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.