Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Decreases Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,313 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Union Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13,333.3% in the fourth quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Norwood Financial Corp bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MS. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cfra increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. HSBC boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total value of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,954 shares of company stock worth $27,239,058. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 5.8 %

MS traded down $5.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $95.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,098,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,627,417. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $109.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $99.77 and its 200-day moving average is $93.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 67.40%.

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.