Insigneo Advisory Services LLC Sells 9,195 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Insigneo Advisory Services LLC decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 40.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,195 shares during the quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,002,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $554,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 78 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value 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. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $110.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $178.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $88.00 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $121.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The company 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.