Greenleaf Trust Lowers Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Greenleaf Trust lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,470 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $956,566,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $904,714,000 after purchasing an additional 10,632,735 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at $477,765,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $451,711,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098,577 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total transaction of $879,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 313,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,562,040.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 302,355 shares of company stock worth $26,753,102 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 target price (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.90.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $90.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $147.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $88.92 and its 200 day moving average is $84.92. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $95.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.93%.

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.