Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Has $6.87 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $6,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $513,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $633,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $111.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $179.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $85.01 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $131.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MS. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

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.