Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 65,456 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,490,558 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 65,456 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Morgan Stanley worth $187,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $639,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $371,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,879,615 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $236,305,000 after purchasing an additional 223,536 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business's 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 sale, the insider now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % 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.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank lowered Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $131.53.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.2 %

Morgan Stanley stock traded down $3.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $115.23. 7,347,106 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,527,969. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $129.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.59. 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 cap of $185.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley Company 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.