Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 37,922 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 128,142 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 37,922 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $13,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,748 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Omnia Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,063 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. TFB Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 33,850 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,529,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 12,284 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS traded down $2.40 on Tuesday, reaching $131.26. The stock had a trading volume of 5,562,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,068,647. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $76.33 and a fifty-two week high of $136.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $116.83 and a 200-day moving average of $105.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market capitalization of $211.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.27 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $115.63.

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.