Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock: Insider Judith Miscik Sells 2,480 Shares

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Director Judith Miscik sold 2,480 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.21, for a total value of $454,360.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 64,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,764,830.15. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $190.59 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $152.80 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $193.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $297.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 19.26%. The firm had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.51%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MS. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $78,825,883,310. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 26,581,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,999,507,000 after buying an additional 408,816 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,326,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,881,000 after buying an additional 87,533 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,206,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,342,532,000 after acquiring an additional 188,296 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,794,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,611,846,000 after acquiring an additional 422,775 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $236.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $243.00 to $195.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price (down from $250.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.81.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

These are some of the MS news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley agreed to acquire Vinyl Equity, a digital transfer-agent platform. The deal would add share-transfer and shareholder-recordkeeping services to Morgan Stanley at Work, potentially strengthening workplace and wealth-management relationships and helping the firm retain clients as private companies go public. Sidley Represents Morgan Stanley in Its Acquisition of Vinyl Equity
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley strategist Mike Wilson said the market correction may be nearing its end but urged selectivity. A recovery could benefit trading and investment-banking activity, although this is a broad market view rather than a specific forecast for MS. Morgan Stanley strategist on the market correction
• Negative Sentiment: Director Judith Miscik sold 2,480 shares for about $454,000, trimming her stake by 3.72%. The sale may weigh slightly on sentiment, but she retained more than 64,000 shares, limiting its significance. Morgan Stanley director share sale

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. Its Institutional Securities business offers services such as financial advisory, capital raising, sales and trading, and research. The company also provides financial planning, brokerage and banking services through its Wealth Management business, while its Investment Management business offers investment strategies and portfolio management to a range of clients.