Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Purchases 15,142 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,142 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $15,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $46,287,000. Pamalican Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,513,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $18,009,000. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $99.75 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.01 and a twelve month high of $142.03. 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. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $127.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MS. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Erste Group Bank downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.87.

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.