Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $10.09 Million in Morgan Stanley $MS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 61,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,088,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Dbs Bank raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.50.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $221.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $348.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $202.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.30. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $135.26 and a 1 year high of $230.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley announced a new $20 billion stock buyback authorization and raised its quarterly dividend, reinforcing confidence in balance-sheet strength and future cash generation.
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo lifted its price target on Morgan Stanley to $225, suggesting modest upside from current levels and helping support investor sentiment.
• Positive Sentiment: The firm also received a tenth consecutive “Outstanding” rating from the OCC for community reinvestment activities, a reputational plus for the banking franchise.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles noted broad banker strength after the Fed stress test, which could provide a favorable backdrop for Morgan Stanley and peers through dividend and buyback expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary also pointed to Morgan Stanley’s private-credit fund withdrawal caps, but that appears more like a sector liquidity issue than a direct operating setback for MS today.
• Negative Sentiment: Some private-credit headlines may keep pressure on financials with alternatives exposure, as investors worry about redemption risk and liquidity conditions across the sector.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.