Hancock Whitney Corp Sells 579 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Hancock Whitney Corp lessened its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 579 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in 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 worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MS. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $131.20 on Thursday. 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 $211.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $118.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.96. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $76.33 and a fifty-two week high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.