Empire Financial Management Company LLC Cuts Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Empire Financial Management Company LLC cut its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 187 shares during the period. Empire Financial Management Company LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 6,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $637,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.7% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 13,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 11,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.80.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $126.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $204.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.30, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $81.96 and a twelve month high of $136.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $122.49 and a 200 day moving average of $107.72.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 corporate insiders.

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.