Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Acquired by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 854,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 116,754 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.05% of Morgan Stanley worth $107,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth about $230,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 121.2% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 16,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,729,000 after acquiring an additional 9,090 shares during the period. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $521,000. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.1% during the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 88,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,202,000 after acquiring an additional 7,354 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MS. Citigroup decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.53.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $115.23 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $129.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $123.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.