Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Decreases Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG trimmed its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 507 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MS. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $139.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $224.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.53, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $84.41 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $131.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the 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 owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.