Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd trimmed its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 109 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 300,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,360,000 after acquiring an additional 11,710 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,272 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 50.8% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,282,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,731,000 after buying an additional 2,453,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz SE purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $11,066,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.53.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $116.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $85.01 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $188.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $129.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.11.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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 3.17%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.