ProShare Advisors LLC Has $33.42 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 265,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,383 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $33,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,240,089,000 after purchasing an additional 604,024 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,213,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,335 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,870,683,000 after acquiring an additional 428,956 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,740,051,000 after acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total transaction of $95,456.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. This represents a 0.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This trade represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of MS opened at $132.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $212.46 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $90.94 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $115.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.08. 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 Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 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 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.46.

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.