State Street Corp Sells 3,021,615 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

State Street Corp lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,124,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,021,615 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley accounts for approximately 0.5% of State Street Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. State Street Corp owned 0.07% of Morgan Stanley worth $14,666,994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,000. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $233,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $920,000. Finally, Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $587,000 after buying an additional 1,259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.38.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.0%

MS stock opened at $176.57 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $178.96. The company has a market capitalization of $280.63 billion, a PE ratio of 18.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The firm had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

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 transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.