Principal Street Partners LLC Has $6.36 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Principal Street Partners LLC trimmed its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 22.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,895 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up 1.0% of Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $6,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,305,000 after buying an additional 119,633 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at about $87,558,000. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $579,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available at this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of MS opened at $129.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $136.24. The firm has a market cap of $208.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $116.83 and its 200-day moving average is $105.55.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.