Cypress Capital Group Lowers Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cypress Capital Group cut its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 34.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,915 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,638 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $554,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 12,298 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 13,290 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,671,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 2,908 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS traded down $0.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $119.12. 8,511,909 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,251,202. The company has a market cap of $192.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $85.01 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $132.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business's revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

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.