State of Michigan Retirement System Decreases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

State of Michigan Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 336,726 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $42,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Advocates Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $274,000. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.6% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 31,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 7.9% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 317,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,069,000 after purchasing an additional 17,036 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $128.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $207.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. 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 one year low of $84.43 and a one year high of $142.03. The company’s 50-day moving average is $133.08 and its 200 day moving average is $121.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on 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 increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.27.

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.