Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Lowers Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 36,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,478 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,845,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the 2nd 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 bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MS. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.29.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $134.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $215.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $134.91. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $112.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.75.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

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.