Corebridge Financial Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Corebridge Financial Inc. lowered its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 294,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 46,217 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $37,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 92,917 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,686,000 after purchasing an additional 3,855 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,235,000 after purchasing an additional 5,155 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $380,000. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,594 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $794,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $131.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of MS traded down $3.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $115.23. The company had a trading volume of 7,347,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,527,969. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $185.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $129.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.59. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley 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.