Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 93,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 17.8% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 146,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,980,000 after buying an additional 22,136 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.8% in the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 11.2% in the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.9% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $855,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $94.79. 5,103,496 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,465,847. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $95.57. The company has a market cap of $154.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $90.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 237,855 shares of company stock valued at $21,084,057. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.