Main Street Financial Solutions LLC Trims Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 28.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,566 shares during the quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on MS shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.24.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $132.44 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $213.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $111.14 and a 200-day moving average of $103.26. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $134.91.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.