Legal & General Group Plc Has $1.01 Billion Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 23.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,040,164 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,410,539 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.50% of Morgan Stanley worth $1,010,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 17,454 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $597,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $881,493,000 after buying an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS traded up $1.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.04. 10,570,385 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,752,036. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.12 and a one year high of $142.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. Morgan Stanley's revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. 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.