Kestra Advisory Services LLC Sells 3,477 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 16th, 2023

Kestra Advisory Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,477 shares during the quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $108,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 306,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,801,000 after purchasing an additional 22,095 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 61.9% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 64.5% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 17,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,492,000 after purchasing an additional 6,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 66.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 5,100 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $494,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 118,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,500,126. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Alistair Darling sold 2,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.70, for a total transaction of $189,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,263,835.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 5,100 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $494,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 118,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,500,126. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 341,699 shares of company stock worth $33,143,046. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $92.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Cfra upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Odeon Capital Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $88.75 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.87.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $86.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.81. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $72.05 and a twelve month high of $100.99. The firm has a market cap of $145.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.06. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 16.73% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business had revenue of $12.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.16 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 30th. This represents a $3.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.49%.

Morgan Stanley Profile

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Morgan Stanley operates as a global financial services company. The firm provides investment banking products and services to its clients and customers including corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. It operates through the following segments: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management.