Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,225 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,416 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $15,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after acquiring an additional 696,646 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after acquiring an additional 428,956 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $130.00 price target (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $133.62.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on MS
Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley
In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at $40,291,800. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 96,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.
Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.8%
Shares of MS opened at $132.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.29. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $123.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.43%.
About Morgan Stanley
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report).
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