U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 430 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 430 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after buying an additional 25,179 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 253,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,453,000 after buying an additional 15,311 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,117,000 after buying an additional 5,576 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $814,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 32,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,342,000 after buying an additional 6,078 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $137.26 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $141.48. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

About Morgan Stanley

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.