American Century Companies Inc. Has $293.17 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 111.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,331,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,230,623 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $293,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price 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. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2 %

MS opened at $120.26 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $130.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.81.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley Profile

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.