AQR Capital Management LLC Has $25.17 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 25.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 200,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 67,570 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $25,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Lido Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 75,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,486,000 after acquiring an additional 6,207 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,403,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,685,050,000 after purchasing an additional 2,233,589 shares during the last quarter. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 37.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,780,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $223,875,000 after purchasing an additional 486,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total transaction of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $120.23 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $115.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $193.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

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.