Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 27,747 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 1,343.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,813 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 27,747 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,621,140,000 after purchasing an additional 269,633 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,335,495,000 after acquiring an additional 590,872 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $881,263,000 after acquiring an additional 385,780 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven equities research 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of MS traded down $3.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $131.11. The stock had a trading volume of 2,584,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,438,590. 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 has a 1 year low of $84.43 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The stock's 50 day moving average is $132.28 and its 200 day moving average is $119.50. The firm has a market cap of $211.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 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 46.60%.

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.