Fisher Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Fisher Asset Management increased its Morgan Stanley stake by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 25,018,335 shares worth about $4.44 billion.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong first-quarter earnings, with EPS of $3.43 beating estimates and revenue of $20.58 billion topping expectations, helping support bullish sentiment around the stock.
• Analysts remain generally positive on MS, with multiple price target increases and an average Moderate Buy rating, while the stock also pays a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share for a 2.0% annual yield.

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 524,189 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up about 1.5% of Fisher Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 1.57% of Morgan Stanley worth $4,441,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after buying an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $249,710,000 after buying an additional 1,348,683 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at approximately $170,037,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.2% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,933,604 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $466,326,000 after buying an additional 841,263 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,260,650 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,267,847,000 after buying an additional 822,120 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha flagged that Morgan Stanley was upgraded to Buy after its strong first-quarter results, reinforcing the view that recent earnings momentum is still supporting the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage also noted that Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) ahead of the GTA VI release, underscoring continued active equity-research influence and a generally constructive tone from the bank’s analysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent stock commentary said MS has delivered a strong one-year rally, with investors still debating valuation versus earnings power rather than reacting to any single new company-specific surprise. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $201.18 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The company has a market cap of $317.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $123.88 and a fifty-two week high of $203.09. The firm's 50 day moving average is $179.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.10.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley NYSE: MS is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company's chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm's primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.