Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC Sells 6,641 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 519,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,641 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley accounts for about 1.4% of Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $65,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $324,118,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.46.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This trade represents a 0.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $120.23 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.73. 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 has a one year low of $90.94 and a one year high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $193.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.43%.

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.