Truist Financial Corp Has $96.01 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Truist Financial Corp reduced its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,029,623 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 66,066 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.06% of Morgan Stanley worth $96,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 17,578 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,639,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 18,896 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 12,803 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. UBS Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $87.00 price objective (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total value of $879,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 313,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,562,040.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,355 shares of company stock worth $22,356,602 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $92.83. 4,606,109 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,720,944. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $95.57. The company has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $89.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. Morgan Stanley's revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.