Mattson Financial Services LLC Has $3.93 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mattson Financial Services LLC trimmed its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,280 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,581 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley comprises about 1.2% of Mattson Financial Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Mattson Financial Services LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $3,240,089,000 after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares during the period. 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 worth $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,870,683,000 after purchasing an additional 428,956 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,740,051,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Eleven equities research 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $132.46.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 335,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2%

MS traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $127.87. The company had a trading volume of 6,434,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,707,863. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $117.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.41. The company has a market cap 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 12-month low of $90.94 and a 12-month high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its 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 business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.