Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $65.63 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 522,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 137,400 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $65,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $324,118,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.8% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,282,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $915,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,453,470 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 96,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $127.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,434,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,707,863. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $117.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $90.94 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is 43.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.46.

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.