Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,552 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,056 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 367,022 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $38,242,000 after buying an additional 127,066 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,425 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $878,000 after buying an additional 2,844 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 122,900 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,811,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 150,096 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,646,000 after acquiring an additional 3,520 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $130.13.
View Our Latest Analysis on Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley Price Performance
NYSE:MS traded up $3.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $118.89. 5,845,704 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,543,849. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $85.01 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $191.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm's 50-day moving average is $128.75 and its 200-day moving average is $124.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 46.60%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
About Morgan Stanley
(
Free Report)
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.
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