XTX Topco Ltd Sells 14,165 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

XTX Topco Ltd lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 47.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,165 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 99.9% during the first quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $363,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,015 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:MS opened at $168.15 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $267.25 billion, a PE ratio of 17.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.38. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $171.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The firm had revenue of $17.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Dbs Bank raised Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.