McGuire Investment Group LLC Lowers Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

McGuire Investment Group LLC lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 155 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley accounts for approximately 1.5% of McGuire Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. McGuire Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $10,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $137.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $139.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.