Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 137,400 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 522,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 137,400 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $65,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 17,454 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $597,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective 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. Twelve 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.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 7.6 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $99.75 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The company has a market cap of $160.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company 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%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. 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.