Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Grows Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,436 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $16,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $958,105,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,585,561,000 after buying an additional 5,631,435 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $512,867,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981,528 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Investors Fund L P acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at about $159,714,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $98.25 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $100.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $109.11. The stock has a market cap of $159.67 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.40%.

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.