35,918 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Bought by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 35,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,516,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 19,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,455,000 after acquiring an additional 829 shares during the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 113,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,253,000 after purchasing an additional 4,007 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $527,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 854,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,384,000 after purchasing an additional 116,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 455,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,319,000 after purchasing an additional 33,819 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.53.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $115.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $129.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $85.01 and a 1 year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.