Payden & Rygel Sells 61,300 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Payden & Rygel reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 61,300 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $13,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res raised Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $3.33 during trading on Thursday, reaching $135.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,880,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,059,086. The stock has a market cap of $217.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The company's fifty day moving average price is $114.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.68. 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 12 month low of $76.33 and a 12 month high of $135.51.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 56.32%.

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.