Janney Capital Management LLC Sells 6,187 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Janney Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 114,820 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,187 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $13,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $320,941,000 after buying an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $324,118,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.62.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $132.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $212.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $122.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.43%.

About Morgan Stanley

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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