Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Boosts Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 34.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,416 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,780 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $70,000. Capital Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,379,000. BSW Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 6,591 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $829,000 after acquiring an additional 1,103 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 99,413 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $12,498,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 70.5% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,862 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,364,000 after purchasing an additional 19,385 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE MS traded up $0.23 on Wednesday, reaching $138.77. 5,707,750 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,690,952. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $141.48. 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 fifty day moving average price of $129.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.51. The company has a market cap of $223.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.