Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Position Cut by Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc.

Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. trimmed its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,675 shares during the quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&R Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 6,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Excalibur Management Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 13,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 14,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price target (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. TheStreet raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS traded down $0.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $92.11. The company had a trading volume of 4,413,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,675,018. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.48. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $95.57. The firm has a market cap of $149.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 61.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,355 shares of company stock worth $22,356,602 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.