Yousif Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 185,985 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,290 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $17,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $477,765,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,917,159,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098,577 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $223,596,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 53.1% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,015,294 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $327,929,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393,065 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 229.0% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,215,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $113,369,000 after purchasing an additional 846,266 shares during the period. 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 issued reports on MS shares. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.9 %

MS traded up $1.73 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $93.82. The company had a trading volume of 6,392,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,852,011. The company has a market cap of $152.61 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.22 and a 200-day moving average of $85.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at $11,368,457.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 302,355 shares of company stock worth $26,753,102 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

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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