New York State Teachers Retirement System Grows Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,174,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,587 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.07% of Morgan Stanley worth $147,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 17,454 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third 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 period. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $597,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,182,000 after purchasing an additional 16,350 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on 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 $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $136.96 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a market cap of $220.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $83.69 and a 52-week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

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.