Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ Invests $10.80 Million in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 114,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,804,000. Morgan Stanley makes up about 3.4% of Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 3,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 10.1% during the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.9% during the first quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 1,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 3,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,154 shares of company stock valued at $10,722,696 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MS. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. TheStreet raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.48.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $100.12. 3,111,960 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,588,666. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $103.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. 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.