Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 450 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co bought 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 in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.29.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MS opened at $134.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $76.33 and a twelve month high of $134.91.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley 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.