4,300 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Purchased by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $401,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MS. Boston Partners bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $477,765,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098,577 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $223,596,000. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 53.1% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,015,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $327,929,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 229.0% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,215,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,369,000 after acquiring an additional 846,266 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 252,355 shares of company stock worth $22,356,602. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MS. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Cfra upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.4 %

MS opened at $92.58 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.55 and a 200 day moving average of $85.31. The company has a market cap of $150.59 billion, a PE ratio of 16.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $95.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.93%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.