Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Acquires 2,200 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 268,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $33,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,621,140,000 after acquiring an additional 269,633 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after purchasing an additional 590,872 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 385,780 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd 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 during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.1 %

MS stock opened at $131.04 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $132.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.72. The company has a market capitalization of $211.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $84.43 and a 52 week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.