Fmr LLC Purchases 2,725,335 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Fmr LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,213,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MS. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective 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, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 7.6 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $99.75 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $160.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $127.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted 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 business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.