Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Buys 21,179 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 593,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,179 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $69,209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of MS stock opened at $134.04 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $90.94 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $215.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $124.15 and a 200 day moving average of $125.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 43.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 price target (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.62.

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.