Lbp Am Sa Has $11.30 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Lbp Am Sa grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 273.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,836 shares during the quarter. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $11,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 17,454 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $597,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,182,000 after acquiring an additional 16,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on MS shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of MS opened at $115.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $186.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $85.01 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $131.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.23. 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 (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.