Federated Hermes Inc. Cuts Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 35.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,569,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 876,318 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Morgan Stanley worth $197,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after buying an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,870,683,000 after purchasing an additional 428,956 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $1,910,200,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,019,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,385,396,000 after purchasing an additional 47,699 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 7.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $99.75 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $85.01 and a 12-month high of $142.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $127.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.25. The company has a market capitalization of $160.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective 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, March 19th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

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 stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.