XTX Topco Ltd Has $3.50 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 365.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,575 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,941,000 after acquiring an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,403,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,685,050,000 after buying an additional 2,233,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,112,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,774,225,000 after buying an additional 1,890,245 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.25.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $142.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $135.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.88. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $145.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. This trade represents a 12.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 188,949 shares of company stock valued at $25,737,084 in the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.