Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,261,749 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 149,586 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.52% of Morgan Stanley worth $1,466,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,281,000 after acquiring an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,019,000 after acquiring an additional 6,448 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 467,246 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $74,273,000 after acquiring an additional 9,056 shares during the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 52.6% in the 3rd quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,043,000 after acquiring an additional 39,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, A4 Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $855,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.95.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MS
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.
Morgan Stanley Price Performance
Morgan Stanley stock opened at $201.18 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $123.88 and a 12-month high of $203.09. The stock has a market capitalization 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. The firm's 50-day moving average is $179.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.
Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend 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%.
Key Morgan Stanley News
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
Morgan Stanley Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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