TIAA Trust National Association Raises Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

TIAA Trust National Association raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 225.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 145,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 101,039 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $20,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after buying an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,610,881,000 after buying an additional 403,956 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,337,000 after buying an additional 219,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,652,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,126,205,000 after buying an additional 442,617 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of MS stock opened at $164.17 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $156.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.51. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $94.33 and a 1-year high of $167.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $262.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

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.