Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $23.80 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 189,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,700 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $23,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,621,140,000 after purchasing an additional 269,633 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after purchasing an additional 590,872 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,263,000 after purchasing an additional 385,780 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 worth $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $131.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $132.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.96. 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 company has a market capitalization of $212.02 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $84.43 and a 12-month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley 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.