Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Lowers Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 336,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 144,200 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $42,242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.50.

Read Our Latest Research Report on MS

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.1 %

MS opened at $109.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $175.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $119.53 and its 200-day moving average is $124.45. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.55 and a one year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.43%.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,665 shares of company stock worth $5,288,079. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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